In 2005 they released Turn It Up Faggot to mostly positive reviews. They quickly dispensed with the sound because of the “negativity” surrounding the recording process, caused by the death of the original bassist, Justin Bosworth, in a freak skateboarding accident. Their next two albums, Cryptograms (2007) and Microcastle (2008), were met with enthusiasm, usually looking at Bradford Cox for his interesting lyrics and vocal melodies. In 2010 they released Halcyon Digest to critical acclaim. It was on this album where Deerhunter picked up a folk-influenced sound, but then discarded it upon the release of their 2013 album, Monomania, which drew heavily from garage rock, noise rock, and punk sounds. When Bradford Cox was hit by a car in late 2014, the accident that "provided a perspective-giving jolt". This greatly impacted the more serene, self-assured perspective heard on their next record, Fading Frontier (2015). In 2018, Deerhunter released the cassette-only Double Dream of Spring, limited to 300 copies and sold only on tour. The band's newest proper album, entitled Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?, was produced by Cate le Bon and released in January 2019.
The band's current lineup consists of Bradford Cox (vocals, guitar), Lockett Pundt (guitar, vocals), Moses Archuleta (drums), Josh McKay (bass), and Javier Morales (keys, saxophone).
Albums:
- Turn It Up Faggot (2005)
- Cryptograms (2007)
- Microcastle (2008)
- Weird Era Cont. (2008)
- Halcyon Digest (2010)
- Monomania (2013)
- Fading Frontier (2015)
- Double Dream of Spring (2018)
- Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? (2019)
EPs:
- Fluorescent Grey (2007)
- Rainwater Cassette Exchange (2009)
- iTunes Live from SoHo (2011)
Not to be confused with The Dear Hunter, or the similarly named Deerhoof.
This band provides examples of:
- Concept Album – The “unified theme” variation.
- Cryptograms was written, according to Bradford Cox, with the intention of "evoking a feeling of someone who's woken up after being strung out one too many nights… It's the feeling of being lovesick and very spaced-out."
- Halcyon Digest also follows this. Says Bradford Cox:”It's supposed to be like a collection of short dispatches … It has a lot to do with the way people romanticise the past, even if it was horrific.”
- Epic Rocking – “Octet”, “Nothing Ever Happened”, “Calvary Scars II/Aux Out”, “Desire Lines”, “He Would Have Laughed”, and "Monomania".
- Heterosexual Life-Partners - Bradford Cox and Lockett Pundt, sort of. They're incredibly close friends and have been best friends since high school; however, Bradford is queer, while Lockett is straight.
- The two spend a lot of time with one another — a blog post by Bradford in 2008 revealed that the two of them stay in the same hotel room on tour, while the rest of the band stay in other rooms.
- Bradford and Lockett have referred to each other as their "muse" in interviews, with Bradford calling Lockett "his other half".
- Instrumentals – “Intro”, “White Ink”, “Red Ink”, “Tape Hiss Orchid”, “Cover Me (Slowly)”.
- Intentionally Awkward Title - Turn It Up Faggot.
- Looped Lyrics – In “Octet” (“I was the corpse that spiraled out into phantom hallways”).
- New Sound Album
- Cryptograms is a lot less punk and a lot more ambient/shoegazey than Turn It Up Faggot.
- Microcastle uses less pedals and distortion than Cryptograms.
- Halcyon Digest takes a route more akin to noise pop and Dream Pop than rock.
- Monomania is much noisier and lo-fi, drawing heavily from garage rock.
- Fading Frontier is informed by Dream Pop and experimental rock.
- Double Dream of Spring, a limited-run cassette, is composed of mostly experimental instrumentals.
- Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? is an art-rock "science fiction album about the present", named after the Jean Baudrillard book.
- Perishing Alt-Rock Voice – Due in part to Bradford Cox’s congestion.
- Shoegaze – Heavily influenced by shoegaze, anyway, most evidently on Cryptograms.
