With the release of their seventh studio album, Fading Frontier, just a few days away, Deerhunter have unveiled the LP’s third single and video, “Living My Life.” Much like “Breaker” before it, the track finds Bradford Cox and company in much more relaxed and introspective frame of mind, setting aside their avant tendencies in favor of sun-baked melodies that bathe the listener in a warm atmospheric glow. Even the song’s existential chorus — “Will you tell me when you find out how / to recover the lost years / I’ve spent all of my time / chasing the fading frontier” — feels reflective and hopeful rather than defeated. The operative word here, the one that keeps popping up in analysis and reviews, is “chill,” and despite its connotation with a certain brand of airy, diffuse music, I can’t help but concur.
If nothing else, the video, shot and created by Cox with some additional photography from guitarist Lockett Pundt, does a solid job of capturing the pensive yet easygoing spirit of the song. Lacking any sort of central narrative, it’s definitely a mood piece built to augment and accentuate the listening experience, which, given the track’s rapturous hooks, was probably the right way to go. It’s not particularly exciting or inventive, but damn if it doesn’t feel good.
Fading Frontier is out Oct. 16 via 4AD. Pre-orders are available here.
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