Deerhoof - Friend Opportunity (ATP)
5/5
By: Thomas Hannan
"Meet me, meet me, meet the perfect me!", they yelp in the album's first chorus of sorts. Hello, and absolutely f**king delighted we are too meet the perfect you, Deerhoof. We had a feeling you were about to arrive.
Deerhoof have been special for a long time, but with 'Friend Opportunity' they become very, very important. Ignore this at your peril, intelligent music listener - it's a record that's a testament to the power of imagination. Imagination, and pure, unadulterated happiness. It's utterly, joyously free - not in terms of being devoid of structure, more like they can structure themselves in any way they want. There's the freedom. You get the feeling that there is nothing Deerhoof considers impossible, and that makes for one hell of an enlightening listen.
Different, progressive even, but far from inaccessible this band are. Theirs is pop song writing, albeit a skewed take on it - huge, winning choruses are everywhere, though tellingly there are rarely any that are an exact repeat of one earlier in the song. They try all sorts. Trumpets herald the gleeful arrival of '+81' which develops in to a marching band mini epic, 'Believe E.S.P.' has a swagger to it that most RnB in the charts would kill for, whereas 'The Galaxist' is a fantastical, escapist piece built around discordant chiming guitars and the very sweetest of vocal refrains. They maintain a coherence despite attempting many styles here, a flow that's largely reliant on how confident and engaging a vocalist they now have in Satomi - clearly, this is her finest hour.
In fact, each and every member is on the top of their game. You'll marvel at the technical skill behind the playing of every instrument on 'Friend Opportunity' at some point. And how lucky we are to have found inventive players who also happen to be highly accomplished musicians and emotive, heartfelt songwriters - never do you think Deerhoof are showboating, and this is very important. It keeps them grounded, and there's nothing more amazing than hearing people who come across as quite ordinary humans making extraordinary music.
Things like 'Choco Fight' sound like they could be difficult to start with, but as always happens on 'Friend Opportunity', such a triumphant melody appears out of nowhere and takes the whole song skywards. It's the closest to the old, quirky Deerhoof as you get here (though that side of them always had a knowing creepiness to it), but the rest of the album sees them squat down and wee on that old and unfair 'zany' tag by writing some truly affecting, crushingly emotive songs.
You'll think of it as noisy in places, despite there being very little noise on it - it's all down to how they combine notes that you shouldn't think go together. Think about it - any time you hear something brand new, your initial reaction is to class it as noise. And you've not really heard music played or constructed like this before. It's like learning a new language, as Interpol once sang.
"If I were a man and you a dog, I'd throw a stick for you", part of that new language, is a repeated refrain that will become classic within months. It's from 'Kidz Are So Small', a track which has become known as the Deerhoof hip hop song, and not without reason. Although it doesn't sound anything like hip hop, it does hit harder than you've heard Jay Z do in ages. In comparison, it makes the succeeding epic 'Matchbook Seeks Maniac' seem like a power ballad. So let's pause the record, and come back to it assess this miraculous song on its own merit, shall we? Without being clouded by Deerhoof's take on gangsta rap? Bear with us.
Tum te tum...
Right, here, we are. And holy cow, this is incredible. It is a power ballad, of sorts (I think I cried to this on a train home once). It's got huge empowering f**k you choruses, the kind that keep you safe whilst walking through dodgy areas of town. Following it with 'Look Away' could be considered showing off, as it's essentially an eleven minute piece of interwoven guitar chords, but even this is infinitely listenable, and somehow doesn't come across as at all conceited. That's Deerhoof's charm - you're happy to follow them in to uncharted waters simply because the boat they sail there on looks so appealing.
Friends? This faultless record is an unmissable opportunity for you and Deerhoof to be lovers for life.
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