Originally billed as Grace Park & The Deer, this band has undergone several stages of metamorphosis over the last decade, least notably Grace’s new last name. The Deer’s latest LP, 2019’s Do No Harm, introduced us to an evolved sound – bigger arrangements, fewer folk-centered acoustic instruments, and more emphasis on psychedelia and indie rock. Well, today, ever defying expectations, The Deer just announced yet another remolding record, The Beautiful Undead, out September 9th. As you can tell from the title, it’s an album about regeneration after loss, and its My Morning Jacket-esque lead single “I Wouldn’t Recognize Me” will leave you reflecting on your own past variations and those still to come.
The Deer have built a devoted audience for their uninhibited, cosmic indie folk the old fashioned way: playing their hearts out, night after night. The band formed in the college town of San
Marcos, Texas; half an hour south of Austin, where the members attended Texas State University and where singer/co-songwriter Grace Rowland lived on a farm. They cultivated a fervent
presence in Texas Hill Country, playing the likes of Kerrville Folk Festival and Old Settler’s Music Festival, and collaborating often with local staples like Bayonne’s Roger Sellers,
players from Asleep at the Wheel, and fellow festival act Elephant Revival. The Deer expanded to the national stage with extensive headlining and support slots for Big Thief and The Head and
The Heart. Their label debut, Do No Harm, released in 2019, marked a set of career breakthroughs, topping the KUTX chart and earning a nomination for the Austin Music Awards’
Album of the Year. When live music took global pause, The Deer had momentum to sort. The five musicians took the energy historically reserved for tour into the studio, a pressure
cooker not only for creativity, but newly, for existential contemplation. The result is two full albums, the first of which, The Beautiful Undead, will be released September 9, 2022 on
tastemaking indie label Keeled Scales. It’s a rollicking collection reflecting upon what it means to lose your sense of purpose. The Deer, amidst turbulent assessment, transformed a paralyzing
void into an empowering surrender of ego—an exuberant submission to the immense
unpredictability of existing.
Throughout the album, The Deer maintain the modern folk flutter and Mazzy Star melodiousness they’re known for, but infuse those delicate bones with emotional tension, and indulge a new
sonic edge. Enlivened by multi-dimensional instrumentation—synths, fiddle, mandolin, electric and acoustic guitars, slide guitar, piano, upright bass, and even mellotron populate the
record—The Deer’s full arrangements shift their sound to an impressive pocket between Fleetwood Mac and Big Thief. The Beautiful Undead is luminous, boisterous, and invigorating; a
free-spirited album fueled by hard-earned revelation.
REF: KUTX; band website
Sacramento’s K-ZAP 93.3 FM plays The Deer. All part of 50 years of Rock, Blues and More, 24-7 on our station’s stream at K-ZAP.ORG/LISTEN/
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