Music Preview/Interview: The Antlers

Bostonist: How long have you been performing music under the name "The Antlers?"

Peter Silberman: I'd say since the summer of 2006. I'd been recording and whatnot for years before that, but it didn't become "The Antlers" until then. It's been Darby, Michael, & me since last August, so in a way, that permanent configuration was the beginning of the band.

Bostonist: At what point did you decide to turn The Antlers into a full blown band?

PS: In the spring of 2007, I'd just finished In The Attic Of The Universe, which was an album that couldn't possibly be performed solo. I had been doing solo shows for a long time at that point and completely hating it, so getting a band together seemed like the right thing to do.

Bostonist: Considering you've spent the past handful of years at NYU, how did you manage to balance your drive to make music and having to attend class?

PS: I wasn't the most studious student. But I became an expert at getting by, and NYU can be a good place to do that. It's a huge, anonymous school, and if you separate yourself from it, nobody will have any idea that you're there. I sort of ghosted through it. Music was where all my focus was while I was at school, but I wasn't studying anything remotely related to music.

Bostonist: I know that you don't like speaking about the autobiographical inspirations behind Hospice in part because you feel it will damage the narrative you've created. Have you previously experienced learning about stories behind art and it ended up blemishing the work that was created? Are you also weary of people you don't know find out revealing information that those close to you may not know?

PS: It's sort of all of those things. I can't think of a specific example of true stories ruining art, but I know I've felt that way before. A good deal of it has to do with protecting somebody that I've portrayed negatively. I don't retract what was written, but I want to respect her privacy. I'd love to protect my own privacy as well, but I've done a pretty bad job of doing that thus far.

Bostonist: At what point did you decide to make a concept album about death? Was there a moment that it just sort of struck you, or were pieces in your life merely leading you to write personal lyrics about death and everything sort of fell in place?

PS: The idea for the album came quickly. Things from the past couple of years suddenly came together and made sense within the context of that story. The record more or less wrote itself.

Bostonist: On The Antlers' blog, you posted a couple of books you've read during the recording process for Hospice. Have poets like Ted Hughes and writers like Leonard Michaels impacted your lyrical style in any way?

PS: Yeah, I coincidentally read a memoir Leonard Michaels wrote called Sylvia when I began working on Hospice. The parallels between my story and his were unsettling, so that certainly seeped in. Regarding a different Sylvia, my mom gave me a collection of Ted Hughes' poetry that ended up shaping other parts of the record.

Bostonist: Has the wide acclaim that Hospice is receiving allowed you to gain some perspective on whatever it was that personally inspired you to write the record? Has performing the material been able to help you cope, or is it ever too much to revisit any of the material live?

PS: I've gone back and forth about it. Some times I think I understand everything much better than I did while writing the record. Sometimes I think I've turned a corner and have moved on from the things that lead to this record being written. Ultimately, I don't think I've ever been as happy in my life as I am right now, but it's all completely surreal. A good deal of the time I feel like I'm not awake. Other times I wake up (or fall asleep) for a second and everything comes rushing back to me. I've tried to avoid re-living the material while we're performing... that would be a bit much to do every night. I still feel it, but I don't necessarily think about it.

Bostonist: After the bits and pieces of summer touring you're doing now, any plans to do a country-wide tour for Hospice once it's released on Frenchkiss?

PS: It's in the works. We've covered a lot of ground so far but there's so much of the country we've yet to reach on tour.

Bostonist: Anything you're looking forward to doing this year?

PS: Looking forward to more touring, for sure. We also just came up with an idea for a new album, so I'm excited to start writing that and working on that. I haven't written anything in almost a year and I think I'm ready now.