| Fading Frontier | ||||
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| Released | October 16, 2015 | |||
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| Length | 36:02 | |||
| Label | 4AD | |||
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| Deerhunter chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Fading Frontier | ||||
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Fading Frontier is the seventh studio album by the American indie rock band Deerhunter, released on October 16, 2015 on 4AD. [4] Produced by Ben H. Allen, who had previously worked with the band on Halcyon Digest (2010), and the band itself, the album was preceded by the singles "Snakeskin", "Breaker" and "Living My Life".
In December 2014, Bradford Cox was involved in a car crash which left him "seriously injured, but also provided a perspective-giving jolt". Prior to the release of Fading Frontier, Cox stated that the accident "erased all illusions" and admitted that it was a definite turning point for him. Fading Frontier is Deerhunter's and Cox's first release since the accident. [5] This album saw the departure of Frankie Broyles, who left the band in 2015 to focus on his solo career. [6] The song "Ad Astra" contains a sample from Bascom Lamar Lunsford's "I Wish I Was a Mole in the Ground". [7] [8]
Fading Frontier was announced via a countdown timer on Deerhunter's website, which ended on 16 August 2015. [9]
The first single released was "Snakeskin" on August 17, [10] followed up with "Breaker" on September 15, of which the video was directed by Cox himself. [11]
The cover art for the album is a photograph titled "Zuma" by the artist John Divola. [12]
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AnyDecentMusic? | 7.7/10 [13] |
| Metacritic | 81/100 [14] |
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [15] |
| The A.V. Club | A− [7] |
| The Guardian | [16] |
| The Irish Times | [17] |
| Mojo | [18] |
| NME | 5/5 [19] |
| Pitchfork | 8.4/10 [3] |
| Q | [20] |
| Rolling Stone |  [21] |
| Spin | 9/10 [22] |
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 81, based on 27 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". [14]
Consequence critic Sheldon Pearce wrote that the album is "one more gem from a well-traveled band that's still finding new territory to explore." [1] NME critic Barry Nicholson praised the record and gave it a perfect score, describing it as "a remarkable album, one that only grows more awesome with each listen." [19] Ian Cohen of Pitchfork awarded the album with a "Best New Music" tag and wrote: "If there isn't a Deerhunter sound, there's a Deerhunter perspective that runs through their work, best summed up in 'All the Same'—'take your handicaps/ Channel them and feed them back/ Until they become your strengths.' The weird era continues." [3] In The Guardian , Alex Petridis noted the album's more mainstream sound: "there are so many straightforwardly commercial-sounding songs here," he observed, "that Fading Frontier could conceivably be an album that turns Deerhunter from cult concern into mainstream success." [16] Citing a lack of angst and urgency in comparison to previous efforts, Exclaim!'s Anna Alger wrote that "On Fading Frontier, Deerhunter focus on their ability as a band to hypnotize and confound, which make the explosive moments here stand out that much more." [23]
In a less favorable review, Clash critic Sam Walker-Smart wrote that the record "is by no means a poor album, and truth be told really doesn't possess a bad number on it." Nevertheless, he added: "When the oddities on this album ride so high they should have let complete weirdness take over." [24]
| Publication | Accolade | Year | Rank |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Guardian | The Best Albums of 2015 | 2015 | 12 [25] |
| NME | NME's Albums of the Year 2015 | 2015 | 14 [26] |
| Pitchfork | The 50 Best Albums of 2015 | 2015 | 30 [27] |
| Readers' Top 50 Albums | 2015 | 14 [28] | |
| Stereogum | The 50 Best Albums of 2015 | 2015 | 42 [29] |
All tracks are written by Bradford Cox, except where noted
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "All the Same" | 3:05 | |
| 2. | "Living My Life" | 3:49 | |
| 3. | "Breaker" | 3:31 | |
| 4. | "Duplex Planet" | 2:40 | |
| 5. | "Take Care" | 4:12 | |
| 6. | "Leather and Wood" | 5:55 | |
| 7. | "Snakeskin" | 4:20 | |
| 8. | "Ad Astra (*)" | Lockett Pundt | 5:32 |
| 9. | "Carrion" | 2:58 |
Credits for the album were adapted from a press release by 4AD. [4]
| Chart (2015) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA) [30] | 74 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Flanders) [31] | 75 |
| Belgian Albums (Ultratop Wallonia) [32] | 89 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100) [33] | 54 |
| Irish Albums (IRMA) [34] | 45 |
| UK Albums (OCC) [35] | 53 |
| US Billboard 200 [36] | 72 |
| US Independent Albums (Billboard) [37] | 10 |
Last Splash is the second album by American alternative rock band the Breeders, released on August 30, 1993. Originally formed as a side project for Pixies bassist Kim Deal, the Breeders quickly became her primary recording outlet. Last Splash peaked at number 33 on the Billboard 200 albums chart, and by June 1994, the album had been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments in excess of one million units.
Blonde Redhead is an American alternative rock band composed of Kazu Makino and twin brothers Simone and Amedeo Pace that formed in New York City in 1993. The band's earliest albums were noted for their noise rock influences, though their sound evolved by the early 2000s with the releases of Misery is a Butterfly (2004) and 23 (2007), which both incorporated elements of dream pop, shoegaze and other genres. They have released ten regular studio albums and have toured internationally.
Deerhunter is an American indie rock band from Atlanta, Georgia, formed in 2001. The band currently consists of Bradford Cox, Moses Archuleta, Lockett Pundt, Josh McKay (bass) and Javier Morales.
Bradford James Cox is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Deerhunter. He also pursues a solo career under the moniker Atlas Sound.
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The discography of Atlanta, Georgia-based ambient and psychedelic band Deerhunter includes six studio albums, two extended plays, five vinyl singles, three split albums, and four music videos. The band has also made appearances on a number of compilation albums. Deerhunter was formed in 2001 by vocalist Bradford Cox and drummer Moses Archuleta. Members to later join were guitarists Colin Mee and Lockett Pundt, and bassists Justin Bosworth and Josh Fauver. Bosworth was killed in a skateboarding accident early in the band's career, leading to his replacement by Fauver. Mee left Deerhunter in 2007 after scheduling conflicts preventing him from performing at a number of shows.
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