With eighth studio album Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?due for release next Friday, Atlanta’s Deerhunter has shared a new song, “Plains” today.
Inspired by James Dean who spent the last summer of his life filming “Giant” in Marfa, Texas in 1955, “Plains” follows singles“Element” and “Death in Midsummer.” Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared?is released digitally and on LP and CD on January 18th 2019.
I was listening to the trains. I was up all night. And something glistened in the strange blood-diffused light. My friend was missing. And I was ghost. I was flame. I was bright. I was listening to the trains. I was up all night. “Oh, James. You’ve got no reason to stay in these plains.” I was racing against time with this friend of mine. Collapsing just before we reach the end of the line. He was lifted. Diamond straight. Straight was cold. Cold was black. And black was glistening. All the night – the sound of trains. “Oh, James. You’ve got no reason to stay in these plains.” These plains are barren and hateful terrain. And what remains is the sound of trains.
Deerhunter’s eighth LP Why Hasn’t Everything Already Disappeared? forgets the questions and makes up unrelated answers. It gets up, walks around, it records itself in several strategic geographic points across North America. It comes home, restructures itself and goes back to bed to avoid the bad news.
Deerhunter have made a science fiction album about the present. Is it needed right now? Is it relevant? Perhaps only to a small audience. DADA was a reaction to the horrors of war. Punk was a reaction to the slow and vacant ’70s. Hip Hop was a liberated musical culture that challenged the notions presented wholesale about the African-American experience. What is popular music today a reaction to?
Produced by Cate LeBon, Ben H. Allen III, Ben Etter, and Deerhunter
Engineered by Ben Etter, Samur Khouja, and Bradford Cox
Mixed by Ben Etter, Ben H. Allen III, and Bradford Cox
Recorded at:
Marfa Recording, Marfa Tx
Sonic Ranch, Tx
Seahorse Sound, Los Angeles
Maze Studios, Atlanta
Attic of B. Cox, Grant Park, Atlanta
Deerhunter are: Bradford Cox, Lockett Pundt, Moses Archuleta, Josh McKay, and Javier Morales
Cate LeBon plays harpsichord on ‘Death In Midsummer’ and sings on ‘Tarnung’
Tim Presley plays abstract lead guitar on ‘Futurism’
Ben H. Allen III plays a synthetic bass system on ‘Plains’
Ian Horrocks plays contrabass on ‘Nocturne’
SIDE ONE:
1. Death In Midsummer (4:22)
Caption of photograph found in book: “Revolution In The Streets of St. Petersburg, July 1917.” The photo shows figures of people running away from piles of bodies.
2. No One’s Sleeping (4:26)
On 16 June, 2016 Labor Party MP Helen Joanne Cox died after being shot and stabbed multiple times in Birstall by Thomas Mair, a mentally ill man with ties to a Neo-Nazi organization He shouted “Britain first” as he carried out the attack.
3. Greenpoint Gothic (2:02)
An architectural interlude for synthesizer and drums.
4. Element (3:00)
Elegy for Ecology (a landscape done in toxic watercolors)
5. What Happens To People (4:16)
Eulogy for “Emotions”
SIDE TWO:
6. Détournement (3:26)
A postcard from the slipstream
7. Futurism (2:52)
Nostalgia is toxic.
8. Tarnung (3:08)
A walk through Europe in the rain
9. Plains (2:13)
James Dean spent the Summer of 1955 in Marfa, Texas filming “Giant,” before his death on September 30th.
Head Honcho, Editor in Chief and writer here on VENTS. I don't like walking on the beach, but I love playing the guitar and geeking out about music. I am also a movie maniac and 6 hours sleeper.