The Antlers with Holly Miranda @ Subterranean on Sept. 21, Chicago

I first heard bits and pieces of the Antlers’ record this summer, thinking to myself, “yeah, that’s good, that’s good stuff.” It honestly wasn’t until I saw them live at Pitchfork Fest in July that I was truly converted. And that is completely and utterly my fault, my dears. You should be converted at first listen. Their album, Hospice, is truly hauntingly gorgeous. Give it a full listen the first time through, not the way I did. Then go buy your ticket. No, go buy your ticket first because with the hype that this band is receiving, you’ll be lucky to get a ticket in advance! This trio is amazing live. The vocals are hushed and tender and fragile on the album. Delivered live, they are equally poignant if not as soft.  Songs like “Bear” show just how that’s possible; both the chorus and the verse work together in their own odd way, being as different as they are.  It’s the energy of this group that carries it, the flexibility of these three performers to take you from one song to the next and just string your heart along the whole way. The mix of keyboards and guitar keeps this collection of songs from being trite, on one hand, or morose on the other. Hospice is so sad, tells such a sad tale, fills you with such pain to hear it. And yet you want to listen to it again and again. It’s like being kissed by the most beautiful lover and sliced by a tiny, sharp knife on each fingertip every time their lips touch yours. I had the same experience with Frightened Rabbit’s Midnight Organ Fight. Most of the songs are achingly sad but also so good and put me in such a melancholy mood, a mood I want to be in sometimes. From “Wake:”

It was easier to lock the doors and kill the phones than to show my skin,
because the hardest thing is never to repent for someone else,
it’s letting people in.

xoxo
buy Hospice

oh, Holly Miranda looks to be quite good too! So Chicago, don’t be late to the show, ok?

Fall Tour
* ( With Holly Miranda )

9/12 – Monolith Festival @ Red Rocks Ampitheatre – Morrison, CO
9/16 – Jackpot Saloon – Lawrence, KS
9/17 – Play:STL Fest @ Cicero’s – St Louis, MO
9/18 – Pygmalion Festival @ Canopy Club – Champaign-Urbana.IL
9/19 – The Frequency – Madison, WI
9/21 – Subterranean – Chicago, IL * ( With Holly Miranda )
9/22 – Majestic Cafe – Detroit, MI * ( With Holly Miranda )
9/24 – Horseshoe Tavern – Toronto, ONT * ( With Holly Miranda )
9/25 – Asbury Hall – Buffalo, NY * ( With Holly Miranda )
9/26 – Iron Horse Music Hall – Northampton, MA
9/28 – Jerky’s Live Music Hall – Providence, RI * ( With Holly Miranda )
9/30 – DC9 – Washington, DC * ( With Holly Miranda )
10/2 – Maxwell’s – Hoboken, NJ * ( With Holly Miranda )