The Antlers

Steeped in the sweeping, epic drama of forebears such as Talk Talk and contemporaries like Shearwater, The Antlers aim for the heart, but aren’t afraid to break bones and spill blood along the way. The band’s latest record, 2011’s Burst Apart, leaves behind the hospital-born histrionics of the group’s 2009 breakthrough, Hospice, but it’s no less moody or experimental. In fact, frontman Peter Silberman seems to have replaced Hospice’s gut-wrenching talk of cancer with a canine fixation, lending his tender falsetto to metaphors about homeless puppies as well as the surprisingly optimistic closer, “Putting The Dog To Sleep.” Silberman is less specific about what’s bugging him this time around, but hearing Burst Apart in a live setting should make uncovering its secrets sound all the more gorgeously bittersweet. 

Updated 05/22/2012