The Antlers - Hospice
I don’t think I’ve ever heard such a beautiful album. This little-known Coldplay-without-the-selfabsorbed-arseyness outfit threw this album directly at the face of the music industry last year, and it seems that no-one outside of Pitchfork noticed. Hospice is a concept album based on an abusive relationship between a hospice worker in an emotionally abusive relationship with his girlfriend, who is dying of bone cancer. There are a few references to The Bell Jar in there as well. Quite how autobiographical the record is has always been kept quiet by frontman Peter Silbermann, but fictional or not, it is an absolutely heartwrenching work that will move you in ways no album ever has. The narrative takes a few unexpected turns, particularly in the song ‘Bear’, a sort-of flashback song about an abortion the pair went through once. Except the baby’s a teddy bear. Or something. Anyway, make a cup of tea, grab the easily-available liner notes from the internet, and read along to the most heart-wrenching tale ever put to music. All the way to the (inevitable) man-plus-guitar acoustic epilogue.
1 year ago