Rainwater Cassette Exchange

Album review

With Microcastle, Weird Era, and this EP -- not to mention all the music the band released on its blog at that time -- Deerhunter hit its creative stride and didn't waste one moment. While Rainwater Cassette Exchange isn't drastically different from what came before it, it's at the same impressive level of quality. If anything, the four pop nuggets that begin the EP might be an even more potent distillation of the band's weirdness, catchiness, and beauty, from the title track's surf exotica to the push-pull of "Famous Last Words"' fuzzy guitars and cryptic lyrics. "Disappearing Ink" charges in on a forceful rhythm, but Bradford Cox's vocals and the chorus ("disappearing ink"/but the words still sting") aren't so sure, a trick Deerhunter also used brilliantly on Microcastle's "Nothing Ever Happened." "Game of Diamonds" is a standout, melding tablas, piano, Everly Brothers harmonies, and a caressing melody into Eastern-tinged dream-chamber-pop that's unique even for a band as committed to mixing sounds and moods as Deerhunter is. The band burns through Rainwater Cassette Exchange's first few tracks almost impatiently, making "Circulation"'s stretch from psych-punk to a sound collage reminiscent of the end of "I Am the Walrus" all the more satisfying. At five songs and 15 minutes long, Rainwater Cassette Exchange is a quick tour of what Deerhunter can do and how well they do it, and more proof the band's inspiration is at its peak.

© Heather Phares /TiVo