The Antlers have been around long enough that we know what we can expect from them. Their albums carry a narrative arc, spurred on by the angelic voice of lead singer Peter Silberman. The musical style has changed from feedback-laden rock on Hospice to more traditional (if not noir) on Burst Apart. Their latest album is titled Familiars, and carries on that noir tradition into something new. It’s an ephemeral album that takes after its title. Dealing with the lost souls and broken remnants of life, it fits into their style in an almost predictable way. While it has some obvious flaws, the pure beauty emanating from the band’s music is impossible to deny. This is no different on Familiars, though its flaws are more noticeable than its predecessors.
The most notable thing happening on Familiars is its glaring use of trumpet, a sound that was experimented with on Burst Apart. The trumpet has found its way from bit player to main attraction on Familiars, becoming the most noticeable feature of many songs. The album boasts many songs that completely eschew guitar and traditional rhythm for keyboard, piano, and the aforementioned trumpet. While it was used to create a seedy, noir sound on Burst Apart, the trumpet conveys a completely different atmosphere on Familiars. It creates an otherworldly tension on many of the songs, and helps establish and convey the phantasmal concept.
The atmosphere that they create with this style is easily the most impressive aspect of Familiars. Its onus is to create a haunting, hazy view of a town full of regrets and mistakes. These dubious themes find their way into every song, creating the narrative of Familiars. Songs vary, but most follow a similar narrative through point of death, loss, weightlessness, even voyeurism. They are all pieces of the ghostly whole, and whether you want to take them at literal or metaphorical value, they work well enough. Even songs about death and loss feel a little light compared to the emotional weight cast by Hospice. Familiars finds the band in a much different place, and its comparative lightness ends up emanating from a place of confidence in their ability. The apparitions often times don’t seem sad as much as they do lost.
This is also where Familiars finds its fatal flaw. The band focused too much on creating an atmosphere instead of actual songs. While it makes the album strong in its conceptual and narrative phases, the actual songs are, well, boring. They have little life to them, which almost seems like it could have been a deliberate choice given the subject matter, but ends up making the album feel listless (I’m realizing now that any adjective I use can be pulled into the narrative of the album). This isn’t to say there aren’t high moments on the album. “Hotel” is a standout, as well the almost surreal “Parade.” It’s never a problem with the album not being beautiful or even poignant. There just isn’t enough substance to the songs to make them feel like fully fleshed out ideas. It’s an almost contradictory feeling: an album that is conceptually strong filled with songs with no singular power.
Whether you will enjoy Familiars is really up to you, the listener. There is enough here to make a good album. It is a good album. But there is boundless room for so much more. If you want to punish an album for what isn’t there, then Familiars could be seen as a failure. Even given that, it’s still a triumph in that it shows The Antlers’ grasp of the narrative arc in music is as good as anyone’s in the field. This is their third album that has relied heavily on these ideals, though. Maybe it’s time for them to just make some really good songs instead of overthinking it just a little too much. There is a lot of talent and beauty here, and it’s not as if it isn’t apparent on Familiars. It’s just that in this instance, maybe it could have done for a little simplicity over needless continuity and complexity.
Review by Justin Owlett, who’s a ghost, and he wanted you to know.
