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Swedish boy-girl duo The Deer Tracks are another exponent of that
brand of whimsical yet strangely sinister ‘folktronica’ that it seems
can only be produced in those countries located in the far north of
Europe that often go months without seeing daylight. With its
twinkling melodies, childlike chanted vocals and music box rhythms,
The Archer Trilogy Pt 2 could be the soundtrack to The Moomins,
the weirdly creepy Finnish kids TV show, or the accompaniment to a
pagan ritual taking place in a snow draped forest in a Wallander
novel.
Nordic stereotypes notwithstanding, The Deer Tracks’ second full
length album is a skilfully constructed and frequently intriguing
work, but also one that may struggle to win new acolytes. It follows
hot on the heels of The Archer Trilogy Pt 1, a five track EP released
earlier this year, and is very much a continuation of the style David
Lehnberg and Elin Lindfors have been developing since their 2008 debut
Aurora.
Both multi-instrumentalists, they create icily pretty layers of
sound that weave and burble gently before slowly building to quietly
epic crescendos. Most of the textures are created by synthesisers and
laptops, although some organic instruments are employed too. But the
most integral ingredient to The Deer Tracks is those otherworldly
voices. One may be male, the other female, but for the most part the
gender is quite indistinguishable as they meld seamlessly together
into a sole, ghostly entity. Some folktronica can be fey and twee, but
the music here is just as frequently distorted, driving and darkly
cinematic as angelically sweet toothed.
While The Deer Tracks are in many ways akin to a number of other
Northern European bands of recent years, notably the Icelandic acts
Múm and Amiina, there are also wider influences at work
on The Archer Trilogy Pt 2. The intricately programmed,
pitter-pattering beats bring to mind Four Tet, while the swathes of
lush keyboards and occasional stabs of dance floor dynamics on tracks
like The Archer and Tiger bear similarities to the emotive electronica
of Caribou.
Fa Fire is the closest The Deer Tracks get to a proper rock song,
gradually shifting through the gears until it takes flight with a
soaring, string drenched chorus rather like Sigur Rós at their
most commercial, although without quite attaining the same level of
ethereal, elemental majesty. On the other hand, 1000 Vanda Kinder
shows the duo can be more minimal when the want to, with the
ingredients pared down to just an elegant, sparse piano and hushed
vocals, and the album’s closing song, U-Turn, is three minutes of
disembodied noise and spectral wailing. It’s only after a few listens
that some of the subtler touches on The Archer Trilogy Pt 2 start to
become apparent, as immediate it certainly isn’t.
In a sense, this is the biggest problem that The Deer Tracks have
- their songs just don’t stick in the memory. The sonic palette they
employ is undeniably meticulously crafted, but it tends to wash
benignly over the listener rather than really drawing you into their
world. Those prepared to concentrate hard and really put the effort
in will find much to reward them in Lehnberg and Lindfors’ complex,
sometimes slightly cluttered compositions, but others seeking more
instant gratification will probably find their maze of ideas a little
too labyrinthine to penetrate.
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