The Antlers “Hospice” is quickly ascending to the top of my year- end list; surpassing Animal Collective, who, I’m sad to say, lost points with their idiotic set list choice at Lollapalooza. Like any good work of art, The Antlers album leaves us with more questions than answers – probing our conscious by way of the unconscious – forcing death to the forefront of our minds by creating an alternate universe, a storyboard swathed in atmospheric piano and breathy synthesizers. I won’t insult your intelligence by giving a step by step introduction to each track, or the winding story that unfolds throughout them; to do so would ruin the experience. Instead, I think the focus belongs more on the soundscape of “Hospice”. The musical bed Peter Silberman has made is draped in white noise and glass shattering chimes; acoustic guitars and music box pianos; this alone takes a talented ear for sculpture – not to mention the McCartney-like ability to turn a sing song melody into deep and haunting conceit that sticks to you like a zebra mussel. For a bedroom recording artist; there is an existential demon that wno’t stop whispering: “One more synth, a little bit more eq, it sounds so much like everything else, quantize a bit more….you can do another guitar part…” and so on…The strength in the album lies in its ability to warrant second and third and fourth listens; you are forced into this due to its inescapable content and the undeniable texture that hides behind the previous listens. Anchored by the melancholy, the melody slips into your ears just as one might slip into sleep after sitting, bedside, all night, in a sterile hospital chair. Give into the sleep, give into the melody, and give into “Hospice”; your ears are beckoning.