New Deerhoof LP embraces beauty

Deerhoof albums are about contrasts. Light and dark, consonant and dissonant, soft and loud.

“Deerhoof vs. Evil” falls short of recent albums due to a lack of contrasting textures.
It’s difficult to explain the appeal of a band like Deerhoof. The group has made its name by mixing hard-rocking songs with bursts of noise and feedback, all while bassist and singer Satomi Matsuzaki chants Dada phrases.

The band can easily write joyous, exuberant songs, but its penchant for noise prevents the music from being that simplistic. Each explosion of static and white noise makes the melody that follows all the more beautiful.

The current album focuses too much on the melodies while forgoing the dissonances that make them more meaningful. Songs like “Super Duper Rescue Heads!” and “Hey I Can” have no secrets to reveal. The album still has wonderful moments, like “Behold a Marvel in the Darkness,” but those are sadly in the minority.

Deerhoof is on a progression toward making more commercial music. With “Deerhoof vs. Evil,” it may have gone too far.