Review of The Antlers at The Academy, Dublin on November 17th 2011
Photos: Sean Smyth
Review: David Dooley
The Antlers breakthrough album ‘Hospice’ was a tender affair, a concept album about the relationship between a hospice worker and a terminally ill patient. It was tender in both the subject matter and the performance, with front man Peter Silberman delivering songs so fragile that there is both stillness and concentration required by the listener to fully absorb it. On their follow-up, ‘Burst Apart’ Silberman opened up the writing process to make it a more democratic affair which lent itself to a more refined sound with a sharper focus. Tonight’s Academy performance was a mixture of both these elements. Opener ‘Parenthesis’ comes with the sharp delivery they gained on ‘Burst Apart’. The electro flourishes buried on the record are let loose live making the song a more sinister affair. Combined with the robotic rhythm it all comes across very ‘In Rainbows’ era Radiohead, which is of course nothing to be ashamed about. Once again on ‘No Windows’ the electronic elements are given space to breath due to the restraint from the other three bandmates.
When Hospice’s ‘Kettering’ comes around it packs a far heavier punch than on the record, the combination of reflective vocal delivery combined with a far bigger rhythmic punch. When not singing it’s no surprise to see frontman Silberman deep in reflection given the heavy handed, delicate subject matter that runs through ‘Hospice’s’ tracks. This is also reflected in the minimal on stage crowd interaction, but when a third of your songs are about the love between a hospice worker and a terminal cancer patient you weren’t at this gig expecting any Dave Grohl style crowd playfulness.
Last waltz lament ‘Putting the Dog to Sleep’ gets a surprising sing along that brings the core part of the show to a close. Credit where credit’s due to Darby Cicci who was playing no less than three synths during ‘Dog to Sleep’, one with his feet along with half a dozen guitar pedals and doing backing vocals. Now who says men can’t multitask should see this man do his thing.
Returning to an encore of ‘I Don’t Want Love’ is quite ironic given the huge reception they get when they come back. Silberman acknowledges the Dublin crowd’s sing along ability saying “How did you guys sing along to that last song it’s really hard”.
Surprisingly though what should have been the highlight of the evening ‘Every Night My Teeth Are Falling Out’, the very track that got me interested in the band not only comes very early in the set list, but the performance is very stale. It seems to be them running through the motions which is surprising given the intensity of other tracks played.