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Deerhoof :: "Believe E.S.P."From Friend Opportunity (Kill Rock Stars; 2007)
Among the excellent albums being released this January 23rd, it’s quite possible that Deerhoof’s Friend Opportunity might get overlooked. It doesn’t have nearly the hype of the Shins' Wincing the Night Away or Of Montreal's Hissing Fauna, Are You the Destroyer?, nor the immediate awesomeness of Menomena's Friend and Foe. It’s a cause of concern for some of us here at the Glow, because Deerhoof’s ninth LP may well be their strongest, tightest album to date. At the very least, it’s their most stream-lined and pop-centered.
This is not to say that it’s not still exceedingly weird -- this is a Deerhoof album, after all -- but that this time around they’ve trimmed the fat. The Runners Four (2005) had twenty songs and seemed to go on forever; Friend Opportunity is ten songs in thirty-six minutes, and that’s including one song over ten minutes. “Believe E.S.P.” seems to epitomize this new restraint and focus. The third track on the album, “Believe” is all about Satomi Matsuzaki’s big fuzzy bass line. Greg Saunier is still in there, providing some lock-step percussive edge to the track, and John Dieterich hits all the guitar parts, but the bass defines the song. Part Tom Zé tribute and part childish gibberish, the song clicks, makes its point, and is done in a respectable three minutes -- any more and it would’ve been overkill. In paring down some of the much-loved strangeness, Deerhoof may finally have hit upon a winning formula.
Peter Hepburn :: 10 January 2007 |
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