Marfan Indie Darling Bradford Cox and co. are back less than 8 months after their 2008 double-LP magnum opus (Microcastle / Weird Era) with the Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP (available as of Monday in MP3 format; June 8 on CD and Vinyl). I ask you, is the cliché of the lazy musician a thing of the past? Deerhunter has barely paused to catch a breath before jetting off for their European / Japanese / South-Pacific tour but somehow managed to record one helluva cute EP sometime between March and April.

Other reviewers are already comparing Rainwater Cassette Exchange to their 2007 Flourescent Grey EP and as long as you think of it within this context, it does play well as 5 standalone singles. In otherwords, do not take this as a harbinger of things to come on their next LP. Crying about how this sounds nothing like Cryptograms or Microcastle would be ill-advised. Whinging on about how they were your favourite band but things have taken a dramatic turn for the worse with this release would be ill-advised. I think that this is a band with two distinct sides: an EP side where they can record short, standalone singles; an LP side where they can go on a cohesive audio joyride with mirroring, experimentation, and whacky seamless continuity.

TRACKS
1. Rainwater Cassette Exchange – I think this is my favourite track off the entire EP. It reminds me of being underwater in a Spongebob Squarepants romance sequence. Give it a listen and you’ll easily envision lobsters falling in love walking claw-in-claw, mating for life.

2. Disappearing Ink – Call me crazy but I hear subtle tinges of former Sarah Records’ group Action Painting! (These Things Happen) in the guitars and vocals. What is up with Deerhunter and ink anyway? I think this is the third ink-related tune they’ve released. Good, but not great.

3. Famous Last Words – This sounds like a spacey take on RCE. A happy little gay march off to the indie space battlefields.

4. Game of Diamonds – I want to call this the “conventional bongo song”, but the piano and vocals are quite beautiful nonetheless.

5. Circulation – Psychedelic guitars, uptempo drumming, their standard garage song. Perhaps my least-favourite on the EP.

Unfortunately all this has done is whet my Deerhunter-ravenous appetite which I will not complain about because this band is recording and touring at an unprecedented breakneck pace. I expect great things towards the end of this year if they don’t collapse under the exhaustion first.

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