The Antler's Hospice

Say what you want about music in the 21st Century: I think it's a beautiful time to be alive when somebody can record a masterpiece with a few bucks and a laptop in their apartment and get it heard on the Internet. Bon Iver did it last year and Panda Bear the year before, and they gave us two of the decades most memorable records for anybody who heard them. Did they sell as many copies as Thriller? Heavens no. Did they change a few lives and give us all reason to believe that there is still musical horizons that are untouched? Yes.

That brings us to this year's latest Internet hype record. Hospice by the Antlers steals from a lot of artists, but it does it in perfect measure in a way I've never heard. Take the Arcade Fire's epic song structure, Sufjan Steven's random instrumental shifts, Panda Bear's droning ambiance and Bon Iver's inverted emotion and you're starting to get somewhere close.

The hazy opening instrumental has tape cracks and distorted piano keys that prepare for the sadness of the lyricism. This record revolves around using a hospital to exemplify loss and parting: the entire album follows the slow passing of a love one. It's a miracle that this album manages to be occasionally joyous, but similar to the Arcade Fire's Funeral, death is used as a reaffirmation of life and acceptance.

The albums highlight (although it is full of them) is the lullaby "Bear". Over light, simple piano chords alternating with upbeat guitar strums, the light vocals explain parting the way you would to a child before assuring that "we're not old at all". As he does several times on the record, the singer gracefully jumps an octave on the last chorus, like he just finally started believing what he is singing.

Another stunning is the epic "Wake", where the hospital imagery is evoked through muffled background choirs and gasping breaths. Five minutes in, the funeral organ occupies the space below his plea "don't ever let anyone tell you you deserve that". This is one of the most gorgeous and emotionally brutal moments you will hear in music this year.

Hospice is another left-field triumph for indie music in a year full of them and demands repeated listens. It's not going to cheer you up with its lyrics, but it will make you proud to be a music lover in 2009.