The Deer Tracks - Aurora
(Despotz Records)

"Yes this is my broken shield", the opener to The Deer Tracks' debut record, is a track that could easily have overshadowed the rest of the album. And while "Aurora" never again reaches the stellar heights of the closing minutes of "...broken shield", the band has plenty of other avenues to explore. The electronic production on "Aurora" is nothing short of fantastic, combining the glitchy with the organic, folding the vocals and guitars effortlessly into the mix, and creating dense, lavish compositions that effortlessly span the emotional range from triumphant to melancholic. Strangely, there are only little touches to connect this project to David Lehnberg's previous bands (Leiah, Ikaros, Ariel Kill Him), with far more connections drawn to acts such as Four Tet, the Notwist, Sigur Rós' "Ba ba ti ki di do" and Mew. "Aurora", despite the range of its influences, is a distinctively Scandinavian, if not characteristically Swedish, record -- showing beauty to be both a thing of wonder and tragedy, and effortlessly so. As I wrote for "Yes this is my broken shield", The Deer Tracks have raised the bar. "Aurora" is one of the great albums of 2008.
- Lars Garvey Laing-Peterson