It’s easy to mistake the Antlers for your standard shoegaze-y band coming out of Brooklyn. And it’s easy to interpret their dreamy melodies and extremely personal lyrics as just another plug-in to the indie formula. But the Antlers are a little more than that. With an insistence upon variation and a refusal to accept labels, this New York trio brings fresh energy to their songs every time they hit the stage.
Originally the solo project of frontman Peter Silberman in 2006, the Antlers came about while Silberman was touring his own music. Joining him on the road in 2007 were fellow musicians Michael Lerner and Darby Cicci, who eventually decided to make it official and form the band. The three are all Brooklyn natives, which is not surprising, as the New York borough has been a growing hotbed, producing act after act such as Grizzly Bear, Matt and Kim and Vivan Girls.
“The attention [Brooklyn] is getting is definitely warranted,” Lerner said in an interview with The Eagle. “A lot of good stuff is going on there.”
Described as “dream pop” and later even as “nightmare pop,” the Antlers consistently refuse labels, insisting that as their music grows and changes, it takes on an ever-changing life and identity of its own.
“Songs keep changing depending on what we’re interested in at the moment,” Lerner explained. “When you start recording and writing, the end result is something different. We just want to let ourselves be free, and we’ll be able to see in hindsight what we’re going to call it then.”
It’s this kind of dynamic nature that keeps their music interesting. Refusing to remain stagnant in their two years of making music, the Antlers continue to re-imagine their sound, both while recording and on stage.
“When we play live, we reinterpret the songs so that the record stands alone as a product with its own mood and quality to it,” Lerner said.
Their latest release, “Hospice,” is an intensely personal album, bouncing back and forth between moody guitar riffs and upbeat acoustic melodies, all the while accompanied by quietly emotional vocals reaching almost into a falsetto on Silberman’s part. Its linear quality gives it a cinematic, almost literary feel, leaving it all open to interpretation and variation on the sides of both the band and the audience. “Bear” features slow, simple resonating verses contrasted with increasingly complex, faster-paced choruses. The lyrics reflect the music’s dichotomy with deceptive simplicity: “We’re too old/We’re not old, old at all/Just too old/We’re not old, old at all.”
“Kettering” ascends from a quiet lament into an instrumental storm, punctuated only by occasional heavy breaths and gasps for air.
The Antlers are now touring with Jealous Girlfriends’ lead singer and indie-soul talent Holly Miranda and are soon to join experimental electronic rockers Minus the Bear. With such an eclectic array of tourmates, it’s always a challenge to keep audiences interested. But for the Antlers, it’s not about winning audiences over, it’s about introducing them to something different, Lerner said.
“When we put a bill together, we don’t concentrate exclusively on other bands in a very similar genre,” he said. “We actually like if there’s something a little bit different going on.”
Always putting music before money, the Antlers are on the edge of music distribution methods. All four of their releases are available for free download on their MySpace. And despite this being a potential financial blow to the band, Lerner says that this loss is nothing compared to the benefit they get from sharing their music.
“The goal is for as many people as possible to listen to the music. You make music for people to enjoy it; that’s what makes me most happy.”
The Antlers will be playing with Holly Miranda this Wednesday at DC9.
You can reach this staff writer at kcasino@theeagleonline.com.
