The Antlers release one of the most beautiful and hardly listenable albums of 2009 with Hospice. In an age where a majority of lyrics are cryptic or just completely senseless Hospice wasn’t given that name for nothing and tended made too much sense as it told the story of a dying loved one. You’ll notice that it didn’t make it onto any of our top ten lists this year simply because we couldn’t make it all the way through without having to put something more cheery on. One of these days maybe we’ll give it a full listen and appreciate it even more than we already do.

With that being said The Antlers announced via Twitter that they’re starting off their 2010 by “recording our new record! Or records! 2010!!!” This lot is an extremely talented group but let’s bring it down an emotional notch this year huh guys?

You can also check out some great video performances of “Shiva” and “Two/Epiloque” over at the French music blog La Blogothegue.