Today comes the news that one of the less heralded, but altogether vital early members of Deerhunter, Josh Fauver, has passed away at the age of 39. Pitchfork reports that the death of the band’s former bassist was confirmed by their representative. The cause of death is currently unknown and he officially died on November 3 in Atlanta, GA. He joined the band in 2004 and left in 2012.
Fauver was part of the band during an incredible late-00s run that established them as kings of the indie rock scene. The Georgia-based band featured Fauver on their albums Deerhunter (2004), Cryptograms (2007), the Fluorescent Grey EP (2007), Weird Era and Microcastle (2008), Rainwater Cassette Exchange EP (2009), and Halcyon Digest (2010). Lead singer Bradford Cox said in a 2013 interview that Fuaver left the band without warning via an email communication. In the interview, Cox says “There was never a fight, nothing acrimonious.”
While Halcyon Digest may go down in popular opinion as Deerhunter’s magnum opus, Fuaver’s songwriting contributions made Microcastle single “Nothing Ever Happened” one of the most iconic songs of mid-00s indie rock, perfectly blending psychedelia and post-punk with a very prominent bass-line — who could expect less from a song co-written by a bassist?
The band took to social media to express their shock and sadness at Fauver’s death.
Somewhat tragically, Fauver is not the first bass-player related to Deerhunter to die too young. In fact, he replaced the band’s original bassist very early on when Justin Bosworth died in a skateboarding accident. Following his career in Deerhunter, Fauver played in two Atlanta-based bands — Electrosleep International, S.I.D.S. and his solo project Diet Cola while running a label called Army of Bad Luck, which released several local artists’ albums. Check out “Nothing Ever Happened” below:
Leave a Comment