Josh Stephenson - 8/17/2011

The Antler's previous album 'Hospice' was an emotionally charged affair. Charting the relationship between a hospice worker and a terminally ill cancer patient, it was one of those rare albums that truly pull on your heartstrings without encroaching too far into over-sentimentality. With the follow up to that album, 'Burst Apart', The Antlers have ditched the overarching concept, but have kept the same heart wrenching music that made 'Hospice' such an emotional listen to great effect.

This emotion is attained through frontman Peter Silberman's fantastic falsetto voice, which seems to channel Jeff Buckley with the ease he can throw his voice around. This is best seen on the track 'Rolled Together' which starts off simply with a gorgeous guitar line and Silberman's voice wailing softly before adding in drum, bass and organ to make it this huge, atmospheric song with the single repeating line of 'Rolled together with a burning paper heart/Pulled together but about to burst apart'. 'I Don't Want Love' is another track in which Silberman's voice shines as he sings 'You wanna climb up the stairs/I wanna push you back down/But I let you inside/So you can push me around', it's another mellow, atmospheric track but the pounding drums in the verses drive it towards the more epic chorus were Silberman defiantly states 'I don't want love'.

In fact most tracks on the album take a mellow, atmospheric stance allowing the lush guitar lines and simple electronics to shine, but this is not always the case, for example on tracks such as 'Parenthesis', which evokes 'Ok Computer' era Radiohead with it's scattered drums and chunky guitar riffs but with less success. It's is employed far more successfully though on the track 'Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out' (which most psychiatrists associate with sexual frustration) in which Silberman's usually soft falsetto becomes more aggressive around a torrent of electric guitars and distortion, as he screams 'You and I, divorced but not devout/Every night my teeth are falling out'. It's certainly the most in your face track on the album and it gives the album a much-needed pick up from the more lush tones that generally gather.

If there were one track to epitomise what 'Burst Apart' is all about it would be the sublime 'Hounds', which starts off very slowly with Silberman softly singing 'So loud/So loud/Slow down/Slow Hound' it has an angelic nursery rhyme quality to it that Simon & Garfunkel used to be able to pull off so effortlessly. In reality though it's a simple love song built off a delicate guitar line, buzzing electronics and an almost non-existent drumbeat, that patiently builds until hitting it's crescendo with horns and over-lapping vocals before simmering back down again. It's a truly beautiful song, with some touching lyrics 'They want to conquer you/Abandon you/I want to burden you/Belong to you' and makes 'Burst Apart' worth it's asking price alone.

There aren't many missteps along the way with 'Burst Apart' but there are a few songs which don't make too much of a mark on the listener. Namely 'French Exit' that has a funky bass line, but reminds me of a more basic Destroyer song and 'Tiptoe', which is an instrumental that doesn't really offer a break from the rest of the album but more of a continuation of the same themes and thus I cannot see what it brings to the table. These are minor concerns though when you still have beautiful ballads like 'Corsicana' and the emotionally charged 'Putting The Dog To Sleep'. This song sees Silberman at his most emotionally vulnerable as he seeks reassurance from his partner to 'Prove to me I'm not gonna die alone', and the song has great uses of space, piano and sharp guitar notes to drive home the sheer panic that Silberman has gotten himself into.

'Burst Apart' is a more than worthy follow up to 'Hostile', it may lack the over-arching theme but the raw emotion is still there and is beautifully backed by these lush, atmospheric sounds that The Antlers have crafted and in its final lines a moment of cautious optimism 'Put your trust in me/I'm not gonna die alone./I don't think so.'