Monomania (album)

Background

The album's title is a reference to lead singer Bradford Cox’s obsessive traits. In 2015, Cox reflected on his life while writing, recording and promoting Monomania, stating: I was actually going through a deep period of passionate rage. [...] That was what I was like at that time: a mixed-up wreck. Monomania was a very hateful record, and I mistreated a lot of people around me. I was in a lot of pain and very lonely. But there was also a big sense of humor; I never lose my sense of humor."

Recording and release

The album was recorded at Rare Book Room Studio in Brooklyn, with producer Nicolas Vernhes, who also produced Microcastle and Rainwater Cassette Exchange.

The album's title is a reference to lead singer Bradford Cox’s obsessive traits. According to Lockett Pundt and Cox, Pierre Schaeffer, Steve Reich, and Bo Diddley were major influences on the album, along with the artists such as Ramones and Ricky Nelson. Bradford Cox noted, "I can't hold a match to that stuff and I never will. I'll never be black, I'll never have that experience. That's what's missing from indie culture, though: Bo Diddley and blackness. There's a struggle that exists in black music and hillbilly music from a certain era. Old music resonates with me, new music doesn't." Cox also described the album as "a very avant-garde rock & roll record".

The song "Monomania" was debuted on April 2, 2013 on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon". It was later streamed online.

Critical

Monomania received positive reviews from critics upon its release. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream critics, the album has received an average score of 81, based on 41 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Ian Cohen of Pitchfork Media gave the album a "Best New Music" designation, writing "Monomania is certainly a strong effort on its own merits, and more importantly, they’ve avoided making their deflating "diminishing returns" record [..] that casts doubts about whether they’ve gone too far down the same path. They’ve pulled off something admirable in making an illogical left turn feel like the logical next step where one didn’t exist." Spin's Marc Hogan also praised the album, writing "An impishly brilliant 12-song set of scruffy garage rock with moments of dreamy shimmer, Monomania leaves no confusion about what sort of band Deerhunter are: one that won't stoop to conquer."

Slant Magazine's Kevin Liedel, on the other hand, gave the album a mixed review, writing "A catalogue of trailing ellipses and blank thought balloons, the album is hardly characteristic of the band's fastidious mien. Whereas both Deerhunter and Atlas Sound albums typically reflect the obsessive brilliance and meticulous pathos of Cox's personality, there's few signs of either on Monomania, which is in dire need of a little less impulse and a bit more OCD."

Commercial

The album debuted at No. 41 on the Billboard 200 albums chart on its release, selling around 10,000 copies in the United States in its first week. It also debuted at No. 12 on Billboard's Top Rock Albums, and No. 10 on the Alternative Albums chart. The album has sold 33,000 copies in the United States as of October 2015.

Track listing

All tracks written by Bradford Cox except for "The Missing" written by Lockett Pundt.

Deerhunter

Recording personnel

Artwork