More than 15 years since The Antlers followed the journey of a hospital worker and a dying patient on “Hospice,” Peter Silberman has mined an equally grim vein for the band’s seventh record, “Blight”: the dying of our planet.
Silberman establishes an attitude of accountability rather than finger-pointing in the concept record’s opening song, “Consider the Source”: “What becomes of what I throw away?/ Broken cord, takeout tray, leaky battery and shattered screen, spilling ink I can’t clean/ Is it too much to be undone, too late to change course?/ Before condemning anyone, consider the source.”
The music swells and recedes, as does Silberman’s vocals, which alternate between a near whisper and soaring crescendos, a perfect blend of sounds and words that set scenes and moods as much as establishing traditional song structures.
“Pour” is built on a Medieval-flavored acoustic guitar line, as Silberman sings about solvents poured down drains and ensuing migraines, with complaints coming 40 years to late. “Carnage,” fastened to an organ part that sounds a bit like an alarm, tells of the collateral damage of humans’ existence, the “incidental carnage” of a bird flying into glass or a “fawn caught in my fence” and turning itself into a bloody mess as it tries to free itself. “Casually maimed,” Silberman sings, and the tossed-off nature of the sentiment is the scariest part. Michael Lerner’s loose drums push and pull, adding colors to the rich sonic palette.
Equally heartbreaking are the lyrics on “Calamity,” particularly: “Sure we’ll get this right next time.”
The Antlers end the album with a sweeping instrumental called “They Lost All of Us”: the sound of a crackling fire, ocean waves, piano and chirping birds. Is this the end of the world or a recovery?
“Blight” is a love letter to the planet, an attempt to make an overwhelming crisis feel personable and manageable, but it’s also a dystopian picture of where the earth is heading, like a nightmare where you are in danger but you can’t move. The resignation in Silberman’s voice tells us it might be too late, and that’s the saddest part of it all.
Rating: 78/81
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