DEERHOOF
Friend Opportunity
Kill Rock Stars
· Deerhoof lite – San Francisco trio (est. 1994) comprised of vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki, Greg Saunier (drums) and John Dietrich (guitar), who recorded the album in his bedroom.
At first blush, Deerhoof’s eighth effort, Friend Opportunity, sounds like an album meant for folks who have toys lined along their dashboards and still need the crust cut off their sandwiches. By the end of the album, Satomi Matsuzaki’s high-pitched baby-doll vocals near the sound frequency of a TV test pattern. Charming to some and grating to others, it’s a unique sound only amplified by Deerhoof’s usual gonzo lyrics.
Making a career out of being fascinatingly unconventional, they continue to inch closer to traditional pop structures. If songwriter Greg Saunier really does glean song ideas from dreams, his REM cycles must be slowing down. Friend Opportunity is a respectable effort, but there are fewer interesting things happening on this album than on the cluttered excitement all over 2005’s Runners Four or 2003’s Apple O’.
Particular distractions include "Whither the Invisible Birds?" and "Look Away" - two questionable diversions on an otherwise hooky art-pop album. Some of the notes are not well thought-out. It’s the kind of defiant abandonment of the listener that may gain the giddy approval of music snobs but leave others cold, impatient and unconvinced of the band’s sincerity.
Thankfully, the opening lounge-rocker, "The Perfect Me," and plucky Romper Room jingles like "+81," "Cast Off Crown" and "Kidz Are So Small" (in all its rhythmic barking glory) keep the release on firm ground. With effervescent bubbles of electronic pop and peppy beats, Friend Opportunity may be the most accessible Deerhoof album to date, despite its forgivable hiccups.
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