Deerhunter

25-Apr-2007 08:15 PM

The Horseshoe in Toronto, Ontario	Deerhunter	April 23, 2007
Photos and Review by: Pete Nema		Full Photo Set (12 photos)

From the moment Bradford Cox and the rest of Deerhunter took the stage, a stream of surprises took place. To begin with, Cox is a quite tall and very abnormally thin, and for someone like me who went into the concert with very little knowledge of the band, all sorts of reasons come to mind. Heroin. An eating disorder. Disease. It turns out his unique appearance is a result of a genetic disorder; it has been reported that he suffers from Marfan syndrome, a condition affecting the body’s connective tissue. Sure, his physical appearance was unanticipated, but so were Cox's bare feet. And then, as the band progressed through the songs, he stripped away his jeans and tank top to reveal that he was actually wearing a frilly dress. After one or two more songs, the black haired wig was removed exposing his face and real hair. That's when it started to get interesting.

Even discounting his physical appearance, it's safe to say that Cox puts on a bit of a freak show while the band acts as a relatively conservative backdrop. The music varies between a spacey hypnotic sound and driving grooves, all assembled with a collective mind set. The compositions are basic, starting with a theme and then built up from there. And while the band grooves, Cox stumbles, poses, rubs his wig between his legs, throws the microphone stand, wanders between band members, and repeatedly slides the microphone into his mouth in a suggestive manner. One of the songs was introduced as about "being in space and coming into your friend's mouth, then eating your friend, digesting him, and shitting him out" - a song that ended with Cox balanced on the kick drum in a pose depicting the last part of that sequence.


More than once Cox accidentally pulled cables out of sockets or out of his microphone. As he faltered around the stage he would occasionally drool and spit, and after one song he retreated to the back corner of the stage and propped himself up against the wall. It's hard to convince myself that alcohol was the only drug at play here, but either way there was some genuine concern for his health coming from the audience. It's not a show anyone is likely to forget. Even though I closed my eyes a few times to try to just listen to the music without getting caught up in the visuals, it is Cox in his dress with his suggestive moves that are more likely going to be the aspect of this show that I remember.

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PETE NEMA
http://petenema.com/article.php/concert-deerhunter-0704