Deerhunter: Manchester Deaf Institute: 19.05.2009
“To achieve harmony in bad taste is the height of elegance” is Bradford Cox’s slogan for Deerhunter’s throbs of shimmering, layered, ambient pop punk. Jean Genet’s quote is a complete summary of Atlanta, Georgia’s transient geeks, a band that have made the transition from the obscure to pop, from the fantastical to the sublime, from the ugly to the beautiful.
Tonight Manchester has the fortune to pay host to the band twice in one day, in the minimal form of Cox (Atlas Sound), Moses Archuleta (Die Slaughterhaus Records), Josh Fauver (Electrosleep International) and Lockett Pundt (Lotus Plaza) for one matinee and one evening show. They promise a broad variety of material from the coarse-punk-negative Turn It Up Faggot, 2007’s Cryptograms, last year’s Microcastles, and new material from The Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP. What we have here, though, is a real opportunity to explore the duality of Bradford Cox’s musical personality, and the way Deerhunter’s music works differently in light and dark.
For the matinee, the venue is white and sober. There’s just been a thunderstorm in Manchester and the audience sit and stand wet. When Deerhunter arrive on stage, Cox begins to list his favourite Manchester bands including Magazine, The Durutti Column and The Fall to an ears-peeled Marc Riley and an eager audience. Cox even begins to discuss James, modestly indicating his dexterity, even if it is…uh…James. He feels shifty, looks shifty, and asks, ‘Does anyone feel really awkward here? I feel really awkward, this is weird, somebody say something.’ He shuffles and winces more, then geekily exclaims, ‘Unfortunately you can’t put the sun out!!!’
When they initially begin to play 'Activa', live daytime Deerhunter is delicate, and suits the alien mood of Cox. Followed by 'Agoraphobia', a gentle romantic song about burying a person alive for sexual gratification, sung by Cox live not Pundt, the amount of feedback maintains a heavy glow for their live sound, intricately layered and sweetly sedating. The daytime show features Microcastle heavily, apart from new songs from Rainwater that still suit an ambient mood that sees Cox waving into Atlas Sound territory.
Vocals are light and subtle and feedback loud and in waves even as they flow into 'Nothing Ever Happened', the only song played in both sets. Here the band’s Britpop influences are clear. The song, mostly written by bassist Fauver, is optimistic and cleared of the eternally prevalent delay wave that would connect them with My Bloody Valentine. It is in the way Fauver moves, the neck jerks, the awkward posturing; he could be Graham Coxon or Elastica.
The evening show provides the energised pop part of Deerhunter. Cox appears, clad in a huge green duffle jacket, padding out his skeletal frame and says little, until they feature upbeat 'Microcastle', 'Little Kids', 'Never Stops', 'Cryptograms', and 'Nothing Ever Happened'. Then he surprisingly begins to mock his own band. He imitates Archuleta with dead eyes and turns into a bit of a diva. It’s a shame at this point they didn’t feature more of the visceral post-punk derived Turn It Up Faggot material, but Deerhunter’s antagonistic side is displayed when a stage invasion erupts and guests are invited to take over Cox, Pundt and Fauver’s positions. It’s a free for all! Some girls are taking over drums while Cox oversees, perching on an amp like a gargoyle.
Although Cox’s influences are undeniably intimidating, as listed on his brilliant Blogspot (deerhuntertheband), they can range from the Sugababes to Pulp. They have a love of pure pop, as we see Cox rely heavily on the alienated vision of Thom Yorke. Cox waits behind for around an hour to sign autographs, which seems like pretty archaic these days, but suits his Saved By Old Times, homemade aesthetic. This double gig was a masterstroke for the duality of Deerhunter and cements an excellent cultural vampire as an anti-short attention span icon for today’s youth. Blur on.
Words & Images: Alice White
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