The Morning News

Listening • Ambient Religious Jam

The words “folk,” “pastoral,” and “Tropicalia” ensure I read the whole piece and listen to whatever music is being pushed my way—“Tropicalia” references the hazy, Brazilian psychedelica to which Deerhunter side-project Atlas Sound are often compared. “Jam session,” in reference to “ambient-punks” Deerhunter, similarly draws me in as someone who knows little of the legends of jam, except that jam is good and great, as Ohmpark agrees: “All weekend long at the beach house, we had a daily, serious Microcastle jam session. It was sort of like a religious experience.”

Not just any of your mother’s jam, a serious jam session. One that emphasizes how worthy of study and contemplation Deerhunter are on Microcastle—especially when you are at the beach house with friends who aren’t going to attack you for reading too much into a six- minute jam.

Some critics like to talk about how “texturally cohesive” Deerhunter’s latest work is. That’s fine, but I like to enjoy my jam without thinking about that. I like talking with friends about why we like Deerhunter’s jam “Nothing Ever Happened” so much, not whether the jam has the right viscosity. —Mike Smith, Sep. 19, 2008

» Listen to "Nothing Ever Happened" at Ohmpark

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