Deerhunter
“Halcyon Digest”
4AD
Released: Sept. 28
9.8/10

Over the years, there has been little that has stayed constant for Deerhunter. There seems to be a revolving door policy for entrance and exit into the band (five members have come and gone in a short nine years), and the group has also had to suffer the loss of original bassist Justin Bosworth to a freak skateboarding accident. The music and influences have changed, as have labels, but the one thing Deerhunter makes sure to stay steady on is releasing consistently great albums.

From the band’s debut to “Cryptograms” and “Microcastle,” Deerhunter has never fallen off the path of making innovative, wondrous recordings, and “Halcyon Digest” is no exception.

Aloof and off-the-cuff, it feels like the band has stumbled onto greatness, even though it clearly has the chops for it. “Halcyon Digest” is quiet and assured; docile meanderings that assemble into a sort of behind-the-scenes look at the greatest album ever made.

Except that Deerhunter leaves it at just that, and pushing the album into a more polished product would have stripped all the innate glory and wonder that makes it such a beautiful recording.

The first-take, fuzzy carnations these songs take evoke an enveloping sense of discovery and rebirth, not unlike Flaming Lips’ “Embryonic, but coming across as gentle and accepting instead of coarse and violent.

The quiet melt of “Earthquake” shimmers the album to a start before the “Pet Sounds”-inspired “Don’t Cry” and “Revival” crack ground in a decidedly more poppy fashion.

“Halcyon Digest” actually has a handful of brilliantly catchy tracks (the latter half’s “Helicopter” and “Fountain Stairs” are particularly fetching), but it’s a pair of tracks averaging out to seven minutes in length (“Desire Lines” and “He Would Have Laughed”) prove to stay with you longer.

The former thuds about with the most swagger Deerhunter has ever shown, bopping with confidence and crumbling into drum breaks and lyrical daggers while the latter — the album’s closer — caps off the ride with splashes of strings and the vulnerable calls of singer Bradford Cox chilling your bones.

More than an album, it’s an experience, one that you won’t soon forget.

— Joshua Boydston, psychology junior

No Age
“Everything In Between”
Sub-Pop
Released: Sept. 28
8.7/10

The two-man wrecking crew of Randy Randall and Dean Allen Spunt took just half-a-decade to rise to the forefront of an ever-blooming, national art noise scene. Armed with a DIY aesthetic that marks both the duo’s career and music, No Age’s sound — borrowing a bit from shoegaze, punk and indie — found quick favor with fans and critics alike.

No Age’s first effort, “Weirdo Rippers,” was a brilliant introduction, and its follow-up, “Nouns,” might prove insurmountable.

Its newest, “Everything In Between,” amps up the formula, mesmerizing you with a lullaby before taking a shot at your gut.

While “Nouns” was more Warhol than Sonic Youth, its junior release brings the recipe into equal measure, if not always at the same time.

The snaggletoothed “Skinned” feels like a pop rock anthem that missed the tracks when getting zipped up, resulting in equal parts annoyance and intrigue. The choppy “Depletion” follows a more even path, as does the rowdy, screeching “Fever Dreaming” for a solid pair of art punk singles.

No Age holds down the fort with a bevy of beautifully odd tracks, best captured by the reversed “Dusted” and feathered “Common Heat,” however, it’s less traditional tracks like the prodding, poignant “Life Prowler” that really launch off.

And the duo might have painted its Mona Lisa with “Glitter,” a track that is more-or-less true to its title, popping with shimmering chords that momentarily burst from under a thick layer of digitized sludge as Randall’s shrugs off resonant lines like “I don’t fear God / I don’t fear anything at all because I know that’s where I’ve been.”

But it’s the closing pair of “Shred and Transcend” and “Chem Trails” that proves to be the knockout punch; the first track finds the perfect label for the band’s sound and the next executes it.

— JB

Sara Bareilles
“Kaleidoscope Heart”
Epic
Released: Sept. 7
7.0/10

Sara Bareilles third album, “Kaleidoscope Heart,” shows the ever-changing colors of her heart. Most of the songs have a slow tempo and focus on the heartaches and pains of love.

Bareilles’ passion for piano shines through this album. Songs such as “Let the Rain” begin slowly but pick up pace as they progress. The mellow and lulling tempos are balanced out by more energetic beats such as “Uncharted” and the soon-to-be hit “King of Anything.” The variety of emotions in the songs reflects common changes of the heart.

These songs could not only get anyone moving to the beat, but could also serve as musical therapy.

— Cailey Dougherty, University College freshman