TOP 12 OF 2007: #4. Deerhoof – Friend Opportunity

#4
Deerhoof
Friend Opportunity

The San Francisco Bay area has long been a haven for free thinkers, unconventional artists and out-there musicians of every stripe. So the fact that the Golden Gate City is home to Deerhoof, a group with art rock chops, post-punk attitude and a female lead singer with a heavy Japanese accent, shouldn’t come as much of a surprise. What is surprising, however, is how incredibly well the group balances their affinity for complex textures, singsong melodies and flat-out zaniness.

And while, with Friend Opportunity, Deerhoof has officially become a trio, you wouldn’t know it from their richly layered sound. Much of the credit has to go to drummer/keyboardist Greg Saunier, who unleashes an impressive battery of percussion on nearly every track. Saunier cultivates a smirkingly off-kilter sense of rhythm, with drum fills that seem on the verge of collapse, and yet somehow find their way back without missing a beat. Still, the most distinctive element of Deerhoof’s sound has to be vocalist/bassist Satomi Matsuzaki, with a voice that’s impossibly sweet, totally unaffected and unmistakably Japanese in its inflection.

Deerhoof has made effective use of this unusual combination on Friend Opportunity, concocting a sound so distinct that it’s difficult to draw direct comparisons. At times, like on the standout track “+81” they sound peppy and bubbly, like an Elephant 6 group fronted by Yoko Ono. At other times, as on the Saunier-sung “Cast Off Crown,” they recall the unusual chord changes and meandering vocal melodies of classic Canterbury groups like National Health and The Soft Machine. Then there’s the unsettling, nearly 12-minute-long “Look Away” which brings to mind the 70s Rock-in-Opposition sound of Henry Cow. Finally, on the beautiful “Matchbook Seeks Maniac” and “Whither the Invisible Birds?” they conjure up an ethereal symphonic rock sound that wouldn’t seem out of place on a Flaming Lips record.

This might all sound like a schizophrenic, hard-to-digest mess, but miraculously, Deerhoof not only manage to make it all hang together—they even make it reasonably accessible. As a result, Friend Opportunity is like a box of sugary bonbons with a dark, dense center hidden within: easy to get into, but yielding increasingly sophisticated riches the deeper you go. In other words, one of the most addictively arty pop/rock albums in recent memory.