Light in August

Friday night's indie-rock event at The Boot managed to live up to the considerable hype that preceded it.
Atlanta's Deerhunter is a band that, by general consensus, is about to make a great leap forward. Street talk and media reports pronounced that the band's appearance in Norfolk would be the last time the group would play a place so small. It's true that there's a national buzz surrounding the band's next album "Microcastle" - which officially comes out in October. It's also true that the band is getting ready to go out on tour as openers for Nine Inch Nails.
The stars are aligning, it would seem.
For me -- a listener hearing the band live for the first time -- Deerhunter's set was less a revelation and more confirmation that, in this case, there is fire to go along with that big plume of smoke. There were no crazy stage antics in Norfolk -- just a band playing creative, dense, somewhat mysterious rock 'n' roll. Eerie drones, strange electronic vocal effects, repetitive guitar grooves -- and an occasional burst of beautiful melody to offset the moodiness -- were delivered along with the odd stage presence of Bradford Cox. The whole affair was very much in the vein of My Bloody Valentine, and in more melodic moments, Jesus and Mary Chain.
For me, highlights were "Never Stops" from the forthcoming new disc, and the bouncing, dance-friendly "Operation," a tune Bradford said was brand new.
This is not a band reinventing rock. But it's clearly pushing it forward a bit -- and that's enough.
Tap into more Deerhunter's experimental goodness here.