''Why Hasn't Everything Already Disappeared?'' is the eighth studio album by the American

indie rock Indie rock is a subgenre of rock music that originated in the United States, United Kingdom and New Zealand from the 1970s to the 1980s. Originally used to describe independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produc ...

band Deerhunter. It was released on January 18, 2019, on

4AD 4AD is a British record label owned by Beggars Group. It was founded in London under the name "Axis" (after the Hendrix album) by Ivo Watts-Russell and Peter Kent in 1980 as an imprint of Beggars Banquet Records. The name was changed to 4AD a ...

. The album was co-produced by singer-songwriter

Cate Le Bon Cate Le Bon (born Cate Timothy on 4 March 1983) is a Welsh musician and record producer. She sings in both English and Welsh. She has released six solo studio albums, three EPs and a number of singles. Le Bon has toured with artists such as St. ...

Ben H. Allen Ben H. Allen (III.) is an American Grammy Award-winning record producer, mixer and songwriter, based in Atlanta, Georgia, United States. He has produced and mixed records by artists such as Walk the Moon, Animal Collective, Gnarls Barkley, Kaiser ...

(who had previously worked with the band on ''

Halcyon Digest ''Halcyon Digest'' is the fifth studio album by American indie rock band Deerhunter. It was released September 27, 2010 to universal critical acclaim. It was the band's first album distributed solely by 4AD worldwide (previously 4AD only handled ...

'' and ''

Fading Frontier ''Fading Frontier'' is the seventh studio album by the American indie rock band Deerhunter, released on October 16, 2015 on 4AD. Produced by Ben H. Allen, who had previously worked with the band on '' Halcyon Digest'' (2010), and the band itself, ...

''), Ben Etter (who worked as a studio assistant on ''Fading Frontier'') and the band itself. The first single, "Death in Midsummer", was released on October 30, 2018. The same day, a world tour in support of the album was announced, starting on November 4, 2018. The second single from the album, "Element", was released on December 6, 2018. The album leaked on December 12, 2018. Lead singer

Bradford Cox Bradford James Cox (born May 15, 1982) is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer and guitarist of the indie rock band Deerhunter. He also pursues a solo career under the moniker Atlas Sound. Cox formed Deerh ...

described the album as a "science fiction album about the present."

Title

The album's title is a reference to the posthumously published book of the same name by French philosopher

Jean Baudrillard Jean Baudrillard ( , , ; 27 July 1929 – 6 March 2007) was a French sociologist, philosopher and poet with interest in cultural studies. He is best known for his analyses of media, contemporary culture, and technological communication, as ...

. Bradford Cox explained that he was "attracted less to the content of the book and more to this idea of a philosopher who spends his entire career predicting the disappearance of ulture and then, on his deathbed, realizes it hasn't completely happened on its own during his lifetime. There's something sad and infinitely melancholy about that." Cox described the title as a "beautiful picture frame" for the songs he wrote for the album.

Accolades

Track listing

Personnel

Credits adapted from the

website, except where noted. Deerhunter *

– vocals; electric and acoustic guitars; synthesizer; percussion; auxiliary drums; piano;

Chamberlin The Chamberlin is an electro-mechanical keyboard instrument that was a precursor to the Mellotron. It was developed and patented by the American inventor Harry Chamberlin from 1949 to 1956, when the first model was introduced. There are several ...

; tapes; mandolin * Lockett Pundt – electric, acoustic, slide, and twelve string guitars; organ; piano; mandolin; electric harpsichord; synthesizer; vocals *

Moses Archuleta Moses Archuleta is an American drummer and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as the drummer, occasional keyboardist and co-founder of the indie rock band Deerhunter, with whom he has recorded seven studio albums. Archuleta also records so ...

– drums; synthesizer; mandolin * Josh McKay – bass; marimba; piano, contrabass, electric piano; bells * Javier Morales – piano; electric piano; Chamberlin; tenor saxophone; marimba; bass synthesizer; bass clarinet; contrabass Additional musicians *

– harpsichord on "Death in Midsummer", vocals on "Tarnung", mandolin on "No One's Sleeping" * Tim Presley – abstract lead guitar on "Futurism" * Ben H. Allen III – synthetic bass system on "Plains" * Ian Horrocks – contrabass on "Nocturne" * James Cox – bass vocals on "Element" Technical * Ben Etter – engineering, mixing * Samur Khouja – engineering * Ben H. Allen III – mixing * Bradford Cox – engineering, mixing * Heba Kadry – mastering

Charts

References

{{Authority control 2019 albums Deerhunter albums 4AD albums Albums recorded at Sonic Ranch Albums produced by Cate Le Bon Albums produced by Ben H. Allen