Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?

by Deerhunter

Overview

A quick scan of Deerhunter's body of work -- which includes album and song titles like Fading Frontier and "Memory Boy" -- serves as a reminder that the fleeting nature of life is something that has fascinated Bradford Cox and company for years. Until the band's eighth album, these meditations on ephemerality were deeply personal. On Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?, Cox looks at the world around him with the same intensity that he used to examine his own life on earlier albums. Though this shift in perspective was brought on by the political climate of the late 2010s, Deerhunter's version of resistance isn't to rail against only the injustices of that era, but against a seemingly endless history of inhumanity and death with songs that sound deceptively life-affirming. The band's skill at pairing devastating subject matter with chiming melodies has never been quite so subversive as it is on the album's first two tracks. On "Death in Midsummer" -- which sounds as anthemic as a song about the piles of bodies left in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917 can -- Cate Le Bon's brittle harpsichord expresses the band's prickly nature and fondness for the unexpected rather than the refinement it usually signifies in pop music. "No One's Sleeping," a song inspired by the assassination of Labour Party MP Helen Joanne Cox, cloaks lyrics like "There's much duress/Violence has taken hold" in buoyant keyboards and brass. Later on the album, Cox is unflinching yet compassionate as he reflects on the inevitability of fading away on the ghostly standout "What Happens to People?" Poignant moments like this could easily be mistaken for nostalgia, but the sorrow that permeates Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? doesn't come from wishing things were the way they used to be; it's because things turned out the way they did. Deerhunter makes it abundantly clear that they're anti-nostalgia on the breezy "Futurism," and more indirectly on "Plains," a brief, brilliant sketch of friendship and loss that takes inspiration from James Dean's time filming Giant in Marfa, Texas, where the band recorded much of the album. The band balances these crystalline pop songs with tracks that explore the concept of impermanence in more abstract, yet complementary, ways, whether via the synth haze of "Greenpoint Gothic" or "Nocturne"'s transporting instrumental coda, which lets the album drift to a close in perfectly apt fashion. From the weariness and wonder in its title to the mix of delicacy and anger in its songs, Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared? is one of Deerhunter's most haunting and thought-provoking albums yet. ~ Heather Phares

Product Details

Release Date:	01/18/2019
Label:	4Ad
UPC:	0191400008915
Rank:	113673

Tracks

1. Death in Midsummer
2. No One's Sleeping
3. Greenpoint Gothic
4. Element
5. What Happens to People
6. D¿¿tournement
7. Futurism
8. Tarnung
9. Plains
10. Nocturne

Album Credits

Performance Credits

Deerhunter   Primary Artist
Bradford Cox   Chamberlin,Percussion,Telecaster,Synthesizer,ARP Synthesizer,Arp Pro Soloist,Guitar (Rhythm),Guitar (Acoustic),Synthesizer Voices,Synthesizer Strings,Drums,Piano,Guitar,Solina,Vocals,Gamelan,Marimba,Mandolin,Pianette,Synthaxe,Prophet 5
Josh McKay   Bass,Bells,Piano,Marimba,Mandolin,Contrabass,Piano Strings,Bass (Electric)
Tim Presley   Guitar
Lockett Pundt   Organ,Guitar,Solina,Vocals,Mandolin,Synthaxe,Tack Piano,Phillycorda,Choir/Chorus,Slide Guitar,ARP Synthesizer,Guitar (Acoustic),Guitar (Electric),Guitar (12 String),Vocals (Background),Electric Harpsichord
Ben H. Allen III   Moog Bass,Wood Block,Synthesizer Bass
Ian Horrocks   Contrabass
Javier Morales   Piano,Marimba,Mandolin,Pianette,Saxophone,Chamberlin,Contrabass,Sax (Tenor),Synthesizer,Piano Strings,Clarinet (Bass),Piano (Electric)
Cate Le Bon   Mandolin,Harpsichord
James Cox   Bass (Vocal)
Moses Archuleta   Xiao,Drums,Mandolin,Synthesizer

Technical Credits

Bradford Cox   Typography,Group Member,Tape Effects,Vocal Treatments,Computer Sequencing,Tapes,Design,Mixing,Composer,Engineer
Rafael Rojas   Studio Assistant
Josh McKay   Group Member
Lockett Pundt   Composer,Group Member
John Rosser   Assistant Engineer
Ben Etter   Mixing,Engineer,Producer
Driely S.   Photography
Gregory Smelley   Operation
Ian Horrocks   Studio Assistant
Javier Morales   Group Member
Jonathan Copp   Studio Assistant
Mark Trouse   Equipment Technician
Spencer Poole   Studio Assistant
Trae Berry   Studio Assistant
Alison Fielding   Layout Assistance
Cate Le Bon   Producer
Tony Rancich   Operation
David Reichardt   Assistant Engineer
Heba Kadry   Mastering
Moses Archuleta   Reverb,Group Member
Jason Kingsland   Assistant Engineer
Samur Khouja   Engineer
Peter Ackermann   Cover Image
Gerardo "Jerry" Ordonez   Assistant Engineer
Ben H. Allen III   Producer