The stakes were always going to be high for Brooklyn three-piece The Antlers in the aftermath of 2009’s iconic ‘Hospice’; rarely had such a heartfelt and deeply conceptual fuzz-folk album drawn such widespread fascination, many fans wondering still to this day why Silberman, Lerner and Cicci took it upon themselves to alter such a clear winning formula. The simple answer, as detailed by Lerner in his interview with Consequence Of Sound, is that according to Silberman “it just sounded forced to do it again”, and perhaps there’s some truth in this statement. Certainly some extension of the old aesthetic could have detracted from Hospice’s standalone excellence, but compared with the kind of risk-taking with which The Antlers current accomplishments have come about, it seemed a cop-out by most standards.

“We’re not particularly sad people” Silberman claimed in a recent interview with NPR, as he goes on to detail a whole new “spectrum of emotion to explore” on ‘Burst Apart’. This versatility of personality also comes across in his performance, made clear during their triumphant return to London’s Heaven at Charing Cross last Thursday. They opened, courageously, with three songs from the new record. In running order, came the airy ballad “I Don’t Want Love”, “French Exit” and “Parentheses” to a moderate reception, before a drifting and disconnected version of ‘Kettering’ was communicated by means of the evening’s first real display of passion. The performances of old and new came across in such contrast - and it stands to reason that ‘Hospice’ and ‘Burst Apart’ are indeed entirely different, incomparable entities - the latter of which portraying itself as an exploration of wildly inimical, variable ideas in relation to the absorbing, determined and focused direction of the previous effort.

Canada’s much-talked-about four-piece Braids had opened up the evening, on somewhat of a lighter note, their synthesized jazz timings and choppy, electronic, and suitably Animal Collectivist whirs having been broken only by Raphaelle Standell-Preston’s folk-induced ramblings and poetic vocal compositions. She stood overbearing and distanced to the right side of the stage, as the rest of the band crowded up to the left, drummer hidden behind a rack of cymbals and keyboardist similarly well-removed. This was their first show ever in the UK, on a run of dates which sees them tour the UK and Europe, play with The Antlers and Friendly Fires, and converge upon Great Escape and Dot To Dot Festivals during the month of May. They’ve already played a string of shows with such names as Toro Y Moi over in the States - on Thursday they seemed confident and accomplished, with bouts of good humour and Twin Sister-esque grandeur littering a rewarding, joyous and trippy opening slot.

Braids - Plath Heart (MP3)

The Antlers make no secret of their increasing fascination with ambient and electronic music, replacing the conventional crunch of traditional guitar tones with a presence progressively distanced and disconnected. Ironic as it may sound, but fifth track ‘Rolled Together’ is perhaps the most sparsely presented track on the record. The song takes on a Radiohead-like form, Silberman’s quivering and wordless falsetto garnering a mid-song applause of its own as it is portrayed live, a similar audience intervention taking place after ‘Bear’, where an audience member proclaims at the top of his voice “What a band!” to a ringing chorus of agreement. The older album tracks, however, certainly fixate the audience with very real convictions, the newer being levered in to a faultless set to an indubitable, though reluctant, acceptance.

‘Burst Apart’ is a much more conventional piece than its predecessor, and such complete and certain ‘songs’ come across tentatively resolving and bullish at times; but what is clear throughout is that such bluesy remnants of guilt, solitude and depression present themselves as an underlying quality to The Antlers’ sound which resonates through all of their music - regardless of structure, length or supposed concept. Live, the band are technically and visually stunning, disjointedly brushing aside an expectedly soul-destroying yet disappointingly tenuous rendition of ‘Two’ before returning to end their set with a sprawling and satisfying ‘Wake’, set with the clawing of guitar strings in a procured quest for dramatics. The band are masters of their own haunting dynamics, and ‘Burst Apart’ is just another demonstration of this. The album is not bound by any one concept, instead splitting in to different directions, each with an equally resounding and lasting quality.

The Antlers - Rolled Together (MP3)