Deerhunter
Fluorescent Grey EP

Not strictly a follow-up but more of a companion piece, Deerhunter’s Fluorescent Grey EP collects together four songs that missed the cut for their Cryptograms sophomore. The release finds the acclaimed Atlanta quintet at their most relaxed, with the scintillating rushes of their most bombastic moments reserved for LP listeners alone.

Although essentially an assembling of spare parts, Fluorescent Grey is as perfectly intoxicating as anything its makers have released to date – those that have already succumbed to the myriad charms of Cryptograms will find this stepping back from all things fiery and furious a delightful deviation. The opening title track begins slightly, intertwining male and female vocals dancing their way around barely-there instrumentation; when the song erupts, relatively speaking, the execution is something like Blonde Redhead tackling a never-before-heard My Bloody Valentine cut. It’s stunning. The remaining three aren’t quite so arresting, but make for thoroughly pleasant left-of-centre listening.

At only 16 minutes total running time Fluorescent Grey should be the ideal starting point for newcomers to Deerhunter, but such is the band’s resistance to easy pigeonholes that these songs don’t really reflect their other recordings. This is almost like an extra scene, if you will – bonus ‘director’s cut’ footage that never made it to Cryptograms’ cinematic release: it doesn’t really fit within the context of the bigger picture, but when appreciated as a standalone piece makes perfect sense.