Facing up to the transience of life is a surefire way to convince audiences you are in earnest.
After Hospice, a concept album set in a children's cancer ward, and the distinctly nihilist bent on Burst Apart you might imagine this Brooklyn trio's fifth album to be a more upbeat affair. But when you hear that lead singer Peter Silberman's idea of light reading is the Tibetan Book of the Dead you are forced to think again.
"I find there are different ways to look at death" says Silberman, which I suppose is another way of saying there are different ways of looking at life.
The songs feel as though they were written from the perspective of someone torn between moping over past failings and embracing a more optimistic outlook.
Doppelganger, for example, is all about confronting your worst fears ("If you're quiet you can hear the monster breathing") while Revisited advocates clearing the decks and making a fresh start : "you'll only fit through the doorway when you relinquish your possessions".
All nine tracks are five minutes or longer which means that they take their pretty time building an atmosphere. The result is more ambient in tone than anthemic although the downside is that too many tracks feel stretched out, presumably in the belief that adding a sprawling dirge-like coda adds substance.
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The band's avant-rock stance is evident from multi-instrumentalist Darby Cicci's statement that he wrote the trumpet arrangements "as a sort of emotional antagonist" to the soul searching lyrics.
Metaphors of conflict figure large, notably on Intruders which explores how it feels to be exposed and vulnerable: "who am I without a weapon, without defence?".
Surrender also suggests wiping the slate clean; one repeated line is that "we have to make our history less commanding".
It's all a little pompous and sprawling at times, but Familiars is full of rich textures and is one of those subtle records that gains in substance on each listen.
The Antlers' website
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