The Antlers @ The Lexington, London. 4/9/09

Sometimes music can be a bit of a paradox. The Antlers latest release (Hospice) is the most beautiful and uplifting record to be released this year. It’s also an album about someone close dying of cancer. After crafting the debut album on his own, Peter Silberman drafted in Michael Lerner (Drums) and Darby Cicci (Keyboards) to help with Hospice. At some point during the recording process they became fully fledged members of the band.

The finished record is an epic production, and one that takes on a whole new level of emotion charged rawness live. Tonight they are the opening act, regardless of the fact that most of the room is here to see them. The downside of this is that we are teased with a painfully short six song set. They start with a solid rendition of “Bear”, hampered by some dubious sound levels. By the time they start the second song (Thirteen) this has been rectified, and we are treated to some of the choice highlights of “Hospice” (although not playing “Kettering” is almost criminal). It would be almost impossible for them to replicate the high production values of the record on stage, but the raw sound only adds to the dynamics and atmospherics of the show – leaving the subject matter feeling even more urgent and hopeless. A blistering version of “Two” closes the set and, all too briefly, it’s over. Ears are ringing, emotions are wrought and jaws are on the floor. They are back in town at the end of Nov for some (hopefully longer) headline shows. Only a fool would miss out.