ACL Music Fest Saturday Reviews

The Antlers

The Antlers' emotionally devastating full-length Hospice (2009), the band's debut as a trio as opposed to frontman Peter Silberman's solo act under that same moniker, left the Brooklyn threesome with a lot to live up to. To that end, Silberman and company revisit certain aural territory, like deploying the same interstitial techniques, dreamy murmurs bridging the mildly aggressive "French Exit" and the contemplative "Parentheses" in an attempt to strike a balance between electronica and a song-sound emotional wallop. While the sensually meandering "Rolled Together" offers itself as the perfect soundtrack to, uh, rolling together, and there isn't a bad tune here, there's not much of an emotional hook to hang on. In short, Burst Apart, as truly beautiful as its compositions are, is haunted by Hospice. (12:30pm, AMD stage)