Fluorescent Grey EP

Infobox Album
Name = Fluorescent Grey EP
Type = EP
Artist = Deerhunter


Released = May 8, 2007
Recorded = July 2006 at Radium Studios, Athens, Georgia
Genre = Shoegaze
Length = 16:19
Label = Kranky krank107
Producer = Chris Bishop
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3.5|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:azfrxzl5ldse link]
*Cokemachine Glow (84%) [http://www.cokemachineglow.com/reviews/deerhunter_fluorescentgreyep2007.html link]
*Drowned in Sound (8/10) [http://www.drownedinsound.com/articles/1869265 link]
*Pitchfork Media (8.8/10) [http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/42157-fluorescent-grey-ep link] (Best New Music)
*PopMatters (9/10) [http://www.popmatters.com/pm/reviews/article/33024/deerhunter-fluorescent-grey link]
*Prefix Magazine (8.5/10) [http://www.prefixmag.com/reviews/cds/D/deerhunter/fluorescent-grey-ep/2975 link]
Last album = "Cryptograms"
(2007)
This album = "Fluorescent Grey EP"
(2007)
Next album = "Microcastle"
(2008)
Misc = Extra album cover 2
Upper caption = Alternate cover
Type = EP


Lower caption = Vinyl Cover The "Fluorescent Grey EP" is an EP by Deerhunter released by Kranky in May, 2007. The release garnered much critical praise, including a "Best New Music" tag by Pitchfork Media. [cite web|title=Pitchfork Media|accessdate=2007-04-17|work=Best New Music|url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/42157-fluorescent-grey-ep] The photography and typography of the CD are done by lead singer Bradford Cox. The front cover features a seventh grade photo of guitarist Lockett Pundt. [cite web|title=Insomnia Post: More Ephemera & Another New Song, "Stoned"|accessdate=2007-09-12|work=Deerhunter Blog|url=http://deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com/2007/07/insomnia-post-more-ephemera-another-new.html] The video for "Strange Lights" is also on the EP as a CD-ROM extra. The EP was later released as a vinyl double LP with their second album "Cryptograms".

Music and lyrics

Unlike "Cryptograms", the "Fluorescent Grey EP" does not have any ambient passages. Instead, the EP is considered to be more like "four singles." [cite web|title=Interview: Deerhunter|accessdate=2007-07-17|work=Pitchfork Media|url=http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/feature/43085-interview-deerhunter]

The songs on the EP share common themes with "Cryptograms", in their subject matter of death and of Bradford Cox’s adolescent experiences. On "Fluorescent Grey", the song’s focus is "panic attacks, lust, and existential dread." Cox examines his sexuality with relation to dying in the lyrics, "why do I dream so often of his body, when his body will decay? His flesh will be fluorescent grey." These thematic concerns are also in "Dr. Glass", where Cox utilises the contrast of love and death; "all the couples kissing…the corpses rotting."

The music for "Like New" was written by Lockett Pundt. Cox contributed the lyrics to the song. He has explained that the song "might be about waking up one day after a long period of depression and finding the world somehow more bearable and kind of ‘new’ and exciting again." This can be identified in the lyrics "I saw the city lanes, mirrored in falling rain, seems like new."

In "Wash Off", Cox sings about how a "kid sold me fake acid in the parking lot of my high school and then told me something about how I wasn't open minded enough to 'let it work' or 'let it do its thing'." cite web|title=Cryptograms LP + Fluorescent Grey EP Lyrics|accessdate=2007-07-16|work=Deerhunter Blog|url=http://deerhuntertheband.blogspot.com/2007/07/cryptograms-lp-fluorescent-grey-ep.html] This is evidenced in the lyrics, "and in the parking lot, of my high school, cheap acid, soft focus."

Track listing

All songs written by Bradford Cox.
#"Fluorescent Grey" - 5:02
#"Dr. Glass" - 3:14
#"Like New" - 2:13
#"Wash Off" - 5:46 ( [http://brainwashed.com/common/sounds/mp3/deerhunter-wash_off.mp3 sample] )
*"Strange Lights" (Video) - 3:38

Personnel

*Bradford Cox - guitar, vocals, bass drum, gong, tapes, keys, piano
*Moses Archuleta - drums, percussion
*Joshua Fauver - bass
*Colin Mee - guitar, tapes, percussion
*Lockett Pundt - guitars
*Nicolas Vernhes - mixing
*Jennifer Munson - mastering

References