Album Review: Deerhunter - Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?

For those familiar with Deerhunter, it should barely come as a surprise that singer-songwriter Bradford Cox has titled the American band’s eighth studio album after an essay by French philosopher Jean Baudrillard. Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? is an extension of the ideas Cox was flirting with on the band’s 2015 album, Fading Frontier, only this time he’s replacing guitars with harpsichords to execute a grand detournement from the rock'n'roll genre.

“Behind every image, something has disappeared. And that is the source of its fascination,” writes Baudrillard. Cox seems similarly fascinated with the disappearance of things: “Walk around and you’ll see what’s faded,” he implores (Death In Midsummer). However, his invitation is not only to share this awareness of mortality, but to transcend it as well. 

“We have to learn to dance with the nothing,” French philosopher Francois L’Yvonnet writes in the introduction to Baudrillard’s essay. And dance Cox does. “It’s elemental how I move,” he sings (Element), “You've got no reason to stay in these planes,” (Plains), and album closer Nocturne finds Cox moving beyond language itself – words disappear mid-sentence. It’s a magic trick that happens right in front of your eyes; in his own words, it’s eternal detournement.