First: in honour of the rapidly dwindling daylight hours, we’re pleased to present the ‘Losing Light’ EP, a reimagination of four songs from this year’s ‘Green to Gold’. The ‘Losing Light’ EP is out now via AntiRecords / Transgressive. Second: we’re finally heading out on tour! This coming spring, we’ll be hitting many cities across the US/CAN, UK, and EU with a full band.
Perhaps what distinguishes ‘Green to Gold’ from the rest of The Antlers’ canon is its, well, sunniness. Conceived and written almost entirely in the morning hours, ‘Green to Gold’ is the band’s first new music in nearly seven years, and easily their most luminous to date. “I think this is the first album I’ve made that has no eeriness in it,” Silberman asserts. “I set out to make Sunday morning music.”
Unlike other Antlers albums, Silberman didn’t feel compelled to turn a human experience into a circuitous mythology. He chose a more direct approach: documenting two years in his life, without overthinking or obscuring what the songs were about. “Most of the songs on ‘Green to Gold’ are culled from conversations with my friends and my partner. It’s less ambiguous about who’s speaking and who’s listening,” says Silberman resolutely.
“I think the shift in tone is the result of getting older,” Silberman added. “It doesn’t make sense for me to try to tap into the same energy that I did ten or fifteen years ago, because I continue to grow as a person, as I’m sure our audience does too. “Green to Gold” is about this idea of gradual change,” he sums up. “People changing over time, struggling to accept change in those they love, and struggling to change themselves. And yet despite all our difficulty with this, nature somehow makes it look easy.”
Vocals, guitar, bass, piano, organ and synthesizers by Peter Silberman Drums and electronic percussion by Michael Lerner
Released November 16th, 2021
All songs written by Peter Silberman and Michael Lerner between 2017-2021
The Antlers’ “Hospice” is one of the greatest introspective rock records of all time. Peter Silberman’s achingly brittle heartbreak from inaudible whispers to thunderous falsettos is one of the most devastating listens. Falling ill himself and requiring surgery to remove his vocal cords, Silberman had to retrain himself to sing – their first album in seven years is one we never thought we’d be able to hear, but we’ve never needed it more.
Perhaps what distinguishes ‘Green to Gold’ from the rest of The Antlers’ canon is its, well, sunniness. Conceived and written almost entirely in the morning hours, ‘Green to Gold’ is the band’s first new music in nearly seven years, and easily their most luminous to date.
“I think this is the first album I’ve made that has no eeriness in it,” Silberman asserts. “I set out to make Sunday morning music.” Unlike other Antlers albums, Silberman didn’t feel compelled to turn a human experience into a circuitous mythology. He chose a more direct approach: documenting two years in his life, without overthinking or obscuring what the songs were about. “Most of the songs on ‘Green to Gold’ are culled from conversations with my friends and my partner. It’s less ambiguous about who’s speaking and who’s listening,” says Silberman resolutely.
Here’s what they say about it: “Hello again, friends. At long last, we’re proud to announce our new album, ‘Green to Gold’ will be released on March 26th via Anti / Transgressive Records! You can pre-order the new album via Bandcamp.
And today, we’ve got a new song to share with you. This one’s called “Solstice”. “Solstice” is a flashback to the infinite days of peak childhood summer, innocent barefoot hikes, staying outside all afternoon and late into the evening, well past it being too dark to see. But it’s remembered from the vantage of a present day that feels unbearably long rather than joyously endless. It’s an invocation of those simpler times, an attempt to conjure the lightness of youth, before life got so damn complicated.
Eager to share the rest of ‘Green to Gold’ with you this spring. Thank you for listening.
“I think the shift in tone is the result of getting older,” Silberman added. “It doesn’t make sense for me to try to tap into the same energy that I did ten or fifteen years ago, because I continue to grow as a person, as I’m sure our audience does too. Green to Gold is about this idea of gradual change,” he sums up. “People changing over time, struggling to accept change in those they love, and struggling to change themselves. And yet despite all our difficulty with this, nature somehow makes it look easy.”
Written by Peter Silberman & Michael Lerner Produced and Engineered by Peter Silberman
Vocals, guitar, bass, pedal steel, piano, and organ by Peter Silberman Drums and percussion by Michael Lerner
Bass clarinet on “Wheels Roll Home” by Jon Natchez Violin and viola on “Solstice” by Will Harvey Cello on “Stubborn Man” by Brent Arnold Banjo on “Just One Sec” and “Volunteer” by David Moore Slide Guitar on “Just One Sec” by Dave Harrington Baritone saxophone, flute, clarinet, and french horn on “It Is What It Is” by Kelly Pratt Guitar on “Green to Gold” by Tim Mislock
“Just One Sec” by The Antlers from the album ‘Green To Gold’, available March 26th
Here’s what they say about it: At long last, we’re proud to announce our new album, ‘Green to Gold’ will be released on March 26th via Anti / Transgressive Records! You can pre-order the new album via Bandcamp. And today, we’ve got a new song to share with you. This one’s called “Solstice”.
“Solstice” is a flashback to the infinite days of peak childhood summer, innocent barefoot hikes, staying outside all afternoon and late into the evening, well past it being too dark to see. But it’s remembered from the vantage of a present day that feels unbearably long rather than joyously endless. It’s an invocation of those simpler times, an attempt to conjure the lightness of youth, before life got so damn complicated. Peter Silberman is back with the first Antlers album in seven years, which will be out in March. Here’s the new single.
Eager to share the rest of ‘Green to Gold’ with you this spring. Thank you for listening. With love,The Antlers”
Vocals, guitar, bass, pedal steel, piano, and organ by Peter Silberman Drums and percussion by Michael Lerner
Bass clarinet on “Wheels Roll Home” by Jon Natchez Violin and viola on “Solstice” by Will Harvey Cello on “Stubborn Man” by Brent Arnold Banjo on “Just One Sec” and “Volunteer” by David Moore Slide Guitar on “Just One Sec” by Dave Harrington Baritone saxophone, flute, clarinet, and french horn on “It Is What It Is” by Kelly Pratt Guitar on “Green to Gold” by Tim Mislock
The Antlers are very pleased to share another new song with you today. This one’s called “It Is What It Is,” and it’s out now via Anti Records and Transgressive.“It Is What It Is” is a song about hindsight. It considers what might have changed had you handled things differently back then, and the reluctant acceptance that it’s too late for all that now. It the inevitability of changing seasons, transitions that feel like loss in the moment, but come to represent growth over time. Accompanying the song is another beautiful video.
The Antlers shared the video for new single ‘It Is What It Is’, which sees the New York band enlisting the skills of world-renowned contemporary dancers Bobbi-Jene Smith and Or Schraiber.
Describing the new offering, lead singer and songwriter Peter Silberman said: “‘It Is What It Is’ is a song about hindsight. “It considers what might have changed had you handled things differently back then, and the reluctant acceptance that it’s too late for all that now. It’s the inevitability of changing seasons, transitions that feel like loss in the moment, but come to represent growth over time.”
The latest effort comes after they returned last month with ‘Wheels Roll Home’, which ended the long wait for new material from the band, whose last album came in 2014
New York based band The Antlers have a new song, The Antlers are back with their first new music in six years. Following the album, 2014’s “Familiars” Pete Silberman and Michael Lerner have shared the new song “Wheels Roll Home” Listen to it below.
After “Familiars”, the Antlers refuted rumours that they’d broken up. Silberman released a solo album in 2017 called “Impermanence” before Spatial Relations, his duo with Nicholas Principe, recorded music for Slate’s Slow Burn podcast and Luminary’s Fiasco podcast, as well as Malcolm Gladwell’s Talking to Strangers audiobook.
It’s been way too long, friends. But we’ve finally got something new to share with you, a song called “Wheels Roll Home”, out now via Anti records and Transgressive. “Wheels Roll Home” is a simple song about the hopeful promise of reunion after a long time gone. It’s that feeling of finding home in someone, eager and impatient to build a life together. It’s the experience of waiting out tumultuous times, longing for stability someday. Written by Peter Silberman & Michael Lerner Featuring Jon Natchez on bass clarinet
Last year, the Antlers toured and released a 10th Anniversary reissue of their “Hospice” album.
Hospice turns 10 years old this year. Let that one sink into your old, shriveled hearts. The Antlers third and most beloved full-length album, “Hospice” opened our collective eyes to The Antlers’ achingly brittle anthems, a sound that could pierce the far-reaching souls of the festival grounds just as easily as the intimate bars and clubs. Peter Silberman’s vocals could morph from almost-inaudible whispers to thunderous falsettos, especially evident on tracks like Sylvia and Wake. These weren’t the kinds of tracks that you could put on in the background. They moved us emotionally, but more importantly, they reminded us of our mortality.
“We’ll be playing a limited number of acoustic shows to celebrate, too. But it will be a bit different this time as the core band now consists of Peter Silberman and drummer Michael Lerner longtime multi-instrumentalist, producer, and engineer Darby Cicci is no longer with the band.”
So far, the band have announced a host of shows, including five shows in the UK and Ireland.
“Though we’ve pared down for the time being, these shows will feature some old friends and guests, and together we’ll perform ‘Hospice’ in its entirety,” the band said.
“We’re truly looking forward to revisiting these old songs in a new light and seeing your friendly faces again. Your patience and support means so much.”
Now, does anyone have the original pressing? I was one of the many listeners who immediately went out to buy the vinyl when it came out in 2009 and, like all of those other buyers, was shocked at how horrid the sound quality was. No hyperboles here, that first and only pressing of Hospice is one of the worst-sounding records I have ever laid ears on. Today is the day for redemption, friends. Remastered and now on a double LP, our Hospice comes back home to rest. Grab the white vinyl from the band’s online store after the ‘buy’ link.
Hospice 10th Year Anniversary 2xLP
Newly remastered as a 2xLP and pressed on white vinyl, with deluxe artwork and packaging courtesy of the album’s original artist, Zan Goodman.
When Peter Silberman finished writing Hospice in the summer of 2008, he didn’t expect anyone to hear it.
A pretty big reputable label, according to him, got their hands on the record, his third under the name The Antlers following two self-released albums, soon after its completion. Silberman, then playing with a band for the first time—The Antlers were, for all intents and purposes, a solo act up until this point—booked a tour on his own, which included a show in the city where the unnamed label was based, hoping to sign their first record deal.
The show didn’t exactly go as planned and the imprint essentially lost all interest.
“I can’t say that we were great at the time either,” Silberman, the lead singer and lyricist of The Antlers, reminisces. “I wouldn’t blame them. We were hoping that was going to happen and it didn’t really have much of an audience. We thought it’d be our big break and it just didn’t materialize. At the top of the next year, I was just feeling like, ‘I need to get this record out somehow.’”
The product of an ultra-intense period of his life, Hospice is so personal of a record that Silberman never fully told the story about the abusive relationship the lyrics painstakingly describe through the guise of a hospice worker and a terminal female patient. While he initially pushed for a label to help promote the record, he never really assumed people would listen to it, that his deeply autobiographical stories, soundtracked by some of the most compelling whispers and crescendos in the history of indie rock, had an actual audience.
And initially, it didn’t.
“We assembled these CDs ourselves, these digi-packs, we put them together ourselves and printed them ourselves and burned all of these CD-Rs and we announced—maybe we sent out to our mailing list and sent out to MP3 blogs at the time because that’s how you did it back at the time in 2009—that we would put this out,” Silberman explains. “We were selling everything through PayPal, packing and shipping ourselves. It was a very DIY operation. I was still sending out to blog and press contacts I had myself and I was putting tours together.”
But then Hospice landed in the hands of Bob Boilen and Robin Hilton at NPR, and everything changed. Mind you, this was a period when music publications and blogs could still drive sales and create hype to a point that’s completely unheard of 10 years later. So when Hilton wrote, “Frontman Peter Silberman is only 23, but has produced one of the most beautiful and moving works I’ve heard in a long, long time. Just astonishing,” in a piece titled “2009 Already Better Than 2008” towards the end of February, 2009, it had a massive effect on The Antlers’ trajectory.
“NPR got very excited about it and posted about it in a way that brought a lot of people to our pre-orders and a lot of people started ordering the record and we started feeling like, ‘Oh wow, this kind of fell out of nowhere,’” Silberman says. “One after another, this started catching on and people started listening to it. We had at this point self released it and a few labels did come calling and I talked to them and we met with some folks and met with publicists and booking agents. We just hit the road and just stayed on the road while this was growing. It just continued to accelerate and we were rarely, if ever at home, and the shows were getting bigger. We entered into this new position. It really felt like word of mouth at the time. The people who liked it felt very strongly about it, and they felt like this was something that they really wanted other people to hear. There were plenty of people who were not into it who were like, ‘This is not my thing,’ but I think the people that liked it, it was an unusually strong bond they formed with it.”
Similar to how masses of people grew attached to the brutally honest lyrics of Scott Hutchison’s Frightened Rabbit across the Atlantic a year prior when The Midnight Organ Fight rapidly spread through a word-of-mouth campaign, The Antlers became a spiritual American counterpart of sorts as loads of listeners quickly latched onto the sweeping, complex, and authentically emotional themes of Hospice.
That sudden hype presented Silberman with a major challenge, one that influenced the trajectory for the rest of his career—how do you keep your sanity and privacy intact as your almost-too-honest work begins to gain traction? At what price does indie fame come with?
“I definitely took a step back after Hospice, and part of that was feeling what it was like to be that vulnerable in public, which wasn’t something that had really crossed my mind with any reality when I made Hospice because I didn’t really have an audience then,” Silberman says. “It wasn’t until Hospice caught on and there was an audience that I suddenly became aware of the kind of personal toll that laying yourself bare to a lot of people can take. I think that it was absolutely vital for what Hospice is and possibly how other people connected to it; it’s vital that it be as raw as it is and explicitly personal.”
That rawness Silberman mentions is what initially drew a passionate legion of fans to The Antlers’ shows, leading them to sell 13,000 copies of Hospice by October 9th, 2009, only two months following the re-issue by Frenchkiss. The label, alongside a handful of others, heard the loud chatter amongst the Brooklyn indie-rock community and quickly signed them to give the record a proper release. The Hospice album campaign, which initially began in disappointment at not partnering up with a label prior to the self-release, kept exponentially growing with a new partner in Frenchkiss, never peaking at any point throughout 2009.
“I think on a certain dimension, my dreams were coming true and not only were they coming true, but they were being surpassed really quickly,” Silberman remembers. “I set a pretty low bar for myself is what I came to realize as things began to actually take off. There was something really validating about that, going from no audience to kind of what felt like hysteria around that record at the time. It was very validating and it felt like it kind of turned that ugly situation that inspired the situation inside out. I think now is actually the happiest time of my life and what was happening back then was a succession of adrenaline rushes that felt really good, but were a total shock to my system and were invigorating but I wasn’t prepared for them. I came to lose myself in that excitement for a while until I burnt out on the other side of it.”
Though it wasn’t the highly personal nature of Hospice’s lyrics that contributed to that burn out—rather a combination of touring and the lifestyle that goes along with it—the sudden visibility and interest in the relationship that Silberman detailed throughout the record did push him to slightly sensor himself for future records, including its excellent follow up, Burst Apart, released in 2011.
“I think I became aware of the consequences of pulling details directly from your life and putting them in a story for the public to hear, for strangers to hear,” Silberman explains. “My approach to writing started to change. Throughout songs and albums that followed Hospice, there are specific references in there, but they’re kind of inside language for the people that they’re written about. I think I also became aware of the temptation to include a lot of really specific details and think that that makes for a good story. There were times where I tried that and found that it didn’t always call for that, that it didn’t necessarily make a song better, and that it didn’t necessarily make a story easier to understand. But with a story like Hospice, which is a lot about a kind of psychological fog and losing yourself and about the intricacies of a really dysfunctional relationship, I think the details are really important.”
Ten years later, The Antlers are currently in the midst of their first tour since 2015, giving Hospice the 10 year anniversary treatment, playing the album in full as a duo, this time just Silberman and percussionist Michael Lerner, following a deluxe edition re-issue to mark the occasion earlier this month. Hitting their original launching spot, Brooklyn, for two nights this weekend, Silberman has recently begun revisiting the album that sent him into the upper echelon of bands at the peak of the indie-rock era, noting how far removed he is from his mindset when he wrote the complex and vivid story.
“I’ve been surprised to find that when I’m listening to it, it’s not really putting me back in the events that brought it about—the relationship that the record is based on,” Silberman explains. “I’m just kind of getting a picture of where my mind was like at the time, the way that I was experiencing the world and the way that I was interpreting the things that were happening to me. It’s like reading old notebooks or something and it’s funny to be at a removed perspective from it now and to be able to see that you’re a long ways away from it. It’s occurring to me now that the chorus of ‘Bear’ kind of applies here, this simultaneous feeling during making the record where I felt that I was very old and I had lived a lot of life at that point. To look back 10 years later and say, ‘I was very young at the time when this happened’ and just having the benefit of some time, it just makes it a surreal experience.”
That chorus he refers to, “We’re too old / We’re not old at all,” breaking up a starkly minimalist song with an explosive refrain, feels just as uplifting as it did 10 years ago upon its release. While revisiting Hospice, a revolutionarily raw rallying cry that propelled Silberman and The Antlers to indie stardom, is no doubt as odd of an experience as he lets on, it’s also an interesting look back at how hype and word of mouth could push a band to unimaginable success. And 10 years later, Hospice is every bit as vital, emotional, and true as it was then, providing a gentle reminder why The Antlers reached the fame they did—owing completely to the story, the lyrics, and the instantly infectious melodies that drive the whole record, all leading up to one final falsetto scream.
The Antlers Peter Silberman’s forthcoming solo debut “Impermanence” promises to be great self-care music previously released single “New York” dealt with Silberman’s sensory overload, while “Ahimsa” touches on his emotional overload. Peter Silberman will release his solo album on February. 24th via Anti- Records. The album, titled “Impermanence”, promises a shift in focus towards Silberman’s personal life and nostalgia.
Impermanence Tracklist
01. Karuna
02. New York
03. Gone Beyond
04. Maya
05. Ahimsa
06. Impermanence
The Antlers frontman Peter Silberman’s forthcoming solo debut “Impermanence” promises to be great self-care music—a previously released single “New York” dealt with Silberman’s sensory overload, while the track “Ahimsa” touches on emotional overload. Behind an ambient guitar , Silberman echoes the mantra, “No violence today.” Silberman explains the song’s meaning and value in a statement, saying:
Ahimsa usually translates from Sanskrit as “non-harming”, which I take to mean practicing a non-violent attitude toward others and myself. I wrote the song as a personal encouragement to cultivate that awareness whenever possible, to be less knee-jerk reactive, to snap to fewer judgments, and above all, to be patient. I need this reminder often. “Ahimsa” is also my ridiculous wish: for a unanimous period of calm and safety, for one whole day of peace. I mostly think this is an impossible goal.
But I hold on to some small hope that it can be reached by an incredibly long road,walked with microscopic steps, by creating harmonious moments and stringing them together, one-by-one, over the course of many lifetimes.
Impermanence will be released by Anti Records on February. 24th. Listen to “Ahimsa” below,also check out Silberman’s upcoming tour dates.
The Antlers – “Hospice”–Released in(2009; Frenchkiss Records) is the third studio album by American indie rock The Antlers, and their first concept album . It was initially self-distributed by the band in March 2009, and was then eventually remastered and re-released.
Part of what makes a concept album truly work is the narrative it’s beholden to. Hospice is a grizzly and harrowing work, which seeks—if nothing else—to completely hollow you as a human being. Dealing with a hospice worker’s romantic entanglement with a patient with terminal bone cancer, Hospice is an album with a palpable feeling of mournful hopelessness.
Singer Peter Silberman’s vocal styling is responsible for at least 50 percent of the latent intensity of the narrative, a quivering whisper of toiling emotions, annunciating with ruthless efficiency a narrative of intense tragic beauty, backed by the sometimes gigantic walls of sound produced by the band, as if to jolt you from the dreamy vocal patterns. It is passionate, powerful and pragmatic in its vision of a relationship that is cultivated through frailty and exposed through its own flaws. Hospice is a direct narrative of suffering without any obfuscation at all, its music perfectly pairing with the rollercoaster anyone experiences in a relationship, with an ending that either uplifts and destroys
The album was released to critical acclaim. Music blogs endorsed the re-release of Hospice with their “Best New Music” stamp. NPR Radio placed the album at number one on their list of the top ten albums of early 2009. At the end of the year, praising its “power to emotionally destroy listeners
Personnel
Peter Silberman – vocals, guitar, accordion, harmonica, harp, keyboards
Darby Cicci – trumpet, bowed banjo
Michael Lerner – drums, percussion
Justin Stivers – bass
Sharon Van Etten– vocals on “Kettering,” “Thirteen,” “Two,” and “Shiva”
“New York” by Peter Silberman from the forthcoming album Impermanence .
Peter Silberman is an ambient indie rocker from Brooklyn. You probably know him as the front man of Brooklyn band The Antlers . The Antlers was a full band, but the first two records (2006’s Uprooted and 2007’s In The Attic of the Universe) were just solo projects for Silberman. But it was the 2009 album Hospice that received universal critical acclaim, I heard Hospice in January of 2010, and I immediately fell in love with his vocal and saw the band at the Live at Leeds Festival the following year. I’ve liked everything else by The Antlers, but Hospice remains a favourite of theirs.
I was surprised to see that Peter Silberman had a solo record coming out. I had high expectations, and the two songs that I’ve heard from the six-song album have exceeded my expectations so far to date.
The softly played guitar bit plays gently off Silberman’s falsetto, and the “horns” and other stuff join in nicely. It’s all very quiet, and that’s on purpose. He says that the whole album is about the ever-changing face of the city he calls home. More importantly, though, it’s about the changes he’s going through. He had to stop playing music for a while after he suffered significant hearing impairment in his left ear and chronic tinnitus. He says that even the sound of his own voice reverberating in his head was painful.
It’s a stunning song on what promises to be a fantastic album.
There’s a video for the song, which features a bunch of “found” archival footage of people in New York.
Impermanence will be released on February 24 viaANTI- Records.
The Fat Angel Sings 