the antlers began in 2006 as a solo gig, when upon moving to brooklyn, peter silberman began writing his first couple of albums (uprooted: recorded while moving, the february tape: recorded in 60 minutes in a bathtub, in the attic of the universe: one song stretched into an album, and cold war: an acoustic album recorded in a week).

in 2007, while still a solo project, peter began working on hospice, an autobiographical account of a man who deals with and ultimately loses a loved one to cancer.  soon after, michael lerner (drums) and darby cicci (keyboard, trumpet, banjo) rounded the antlers into a trio.

"hospice is essentially about myself and another person," peter said. "about our relationship and its dissolution. i had other people in mind, friends who have been in similar situations, or who have recently found themselves in dysfunctional environments."

two years later on august 18, 2009 hospice finally released. the album was lauded critically for both it's lyrics and music and was named to quite a few of album of the year lists.

npr's robin hilton said of the album, "hospice is an epic but intimate album of astonishing beauty, as well as one of the most moving, heart-wrenching set of songs I've had the pleasure of hearing. it evolves and unfolds majestically, soaring from hushed moments to grand, cage-rattling swells of shredded guitar noise."

for more info on the band check out the bio on their website here.

click here to listen to a june 23, 2009 gig recorded by npr in d.c.  click here to listen to a live song from brooklyn's music hall of williamsburg recorded by vimeo.   click here for a few live songs recorded by the great site, daytrotter.  don't forget, the album cover image always links to sample songs and the band's image to their website.

check here to see if the antlers have any gigs scheduled near you.

as always, please buy this album from your local independent music store by people who know and love music and not from retailers like wal-mart (soulless, globally-homogenizing, community-killers) or i-tunes (albums should be listened to as an entire composition with album cover and liner notes in hand).  incidentally, these two companies sell more music than any other retailer in the united states.  that my friend, bites.