When we went in to record we just asked ourselves what we could imagine playing a lot.’ Peter Silberman, The Antlers’ frontman, muses on the beginnings of their latest record, ‘Well, it’s going to be something fun.’ Sat in the band’s snug tour bus along with drummer Mike Lerner and ‘multi-instrumentalist’ Darby Cicci, we discussed the fresh approach they had taken to making Burst Apart, the much anticipated follow up to 2009’s towering Hospice. Silberman continued, ‘We wanted to make something that had a sombre tone to it, like Hospice, but we wanted to enjoy doing it.’
This focus on enjoyment was clear throughout The Antlers’ performance later that evening, where they played a set consisting almost uniformly of cuts from Burst Apart, all of which translated seamlessly to the live setting. ‘They’re all working really well live,’ Mike told me, ‘obviously we’re evolving the tracks but we’ve always done that.’ One of the main reasons for this is that Burst Apart is the first album that The Antlers has made from start to finish as a bona fide band. Previously the solo project of Silberman, the band evolved into a three piece following the release of Hospice. Cicci described to me the importance of jamming in the writing stage of Burst Apart, although he was quick and emphatic in making the distinction between ‘jamming as a band’ and being a ‘jam band’.
The process of releasing creative control over the project he had nurtured since its inception in 2006 must have been a difficult one for Silberman, but he seemed overtly positive about The Antlers’ current incarnation.
‘With Hospice I was trying to very carefully write something,’ he told me. ‘I don’t think it would have been healthy to go through it all again. What I needed was to let go.’ Silberman certainly seemed comfortable within the band dynamic, sitting back to allow his collaborators to field my questions, perhaps relieved to have surrendered some responsibility. He explained, ‘That’s why it was so great when we went into recording. There was the pressure of following up Hospice but we felt we had freedom to do whatever we wanted and that helped it be a better record.’
Our conversation returned to the pivotal Hospice and the long shadow that it still casts over The Antlers. The band made no attempt to downplay the album’s importance, describing it as ‘the record that gave us our career.’ I asked them about their feelings when making Burst Apart – did it seem like they had everything to lose? ‘That’s exactly how it felt,’ Silberman replied. The band agreed that a lack of preconceived ideas about the end product made the process of recording Burst Apart a much smoother one. ‘Otherwise, I think it would’ve felt more like a commitment that we had to power through,’ Silberman concluded.
Despite this fairly open ended approach to recording Burst Apart, the album couldn’t feel more cohesive as a singular work, continuing in the tradition of Hospice. ‘There’s an arc that’s very important,’ Cicci explained, placing significant value on the album as a format, ‘We think of it as a whole piece of music rather than a bunch of songs.’ A sadly unfashionable view to hold in today’s musical climate, The Antlers’ disillusionment with the music industry in fact runs far deeper than the demise of the album.
‘I despair more for people who make records because they feel they have to,’ Cicci continued as Silberman interjected, ‘I wish bands had more time to make records as well, not just two weeks in the studio.’
As our conversation drew to a close, Cicci summed up The Antlers’ philosophy succinctly, ‘I wish more people would come up with ideas of what they actually wanted to make and just make it. However weird or unusual it might be.’ Thus far, this is exactly what The Antlers have done. They represent that all too rare breed of musicians making music for no one else but themselves and, after our brief meeting, I am in no doubt that they will continue for long into the future.
