Deerhunter: Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Label: Kranky
Deerhunter are a group that understands the parameters of the formats in which they’ve chosen to work. Cryptograms used the dimensions of an album in order to unfold over time, moving from all-encompassing paranoia to glistening pop. Rainwater Cassette Exchange hearkens back to the classic days of the EP as stylistic shift, welding the more blissful pop elements heard on last year’s Microcastle/Weird Era Cont. with a diffuse clarity seemingly relieved of the menace that’s characterized much of their work. The dreamlike shuffle of “Game of Diamonds,” in particular, could qualify as “feel-good,” and “Circulation” proves that Deerhunter are more than able to pen a shoegaze anthem. It’s their most accessible work to date, but also their most consistent. (Toby)
