Deerhoof Adds Members, Offends Maggie
Added guitars give Offend Maggie a hard driving tranquility.
Deerhoof
Offend Maggie
Released on Oct 07, 2008
Deerhoof is one of those bands that invite you to make sweeping statements. “Deerhoof sounds like the fairies of “Lord of the Rings” got Hadron-Collided with the editors of Pitchfork. Deerhoof sounds like your kid sister’s best friend recorded herself at 3 am while she was dreaming and then it was layered over the secret side-project of Thom Yorke.”
Both of these statements, however true they may be, fail to get at the heart of Deerhoof’s latest effort, Offend Maggie. The latest in the now decade-long discography, Offend Maggie pounds through its songs, unlike the past few releases, with a perfunctory decadence. It marks a return to progressive garage rock rather than the syncopated and stumbling bleeps and blips that so many prog bands have fallen into.
Lead singer Satomi Matsuzaki’s vocals remain as effervescent as ever, with her typified musings of dreams and fantasies that are sung in both English and Japanese. Rivaling Portishead’s Beth Gibbons in whimsy and the ability to fall back into the music as well as stand out, Matsuzaki distinguishes herself with her ability to be completely undecipherable, but communicate fully. It’s the kind of voice that comes to you in dreams and causes a Kafaka-esque breakdown of not knowing what is reality and what you might have made up.
The addition of guitarist Ed Rodriguez has caused the band to push the keyboards to the back of the mix, forcing an all-out guitar assault that is as much a percussive sound as a melody throughout the album. This isn’t some gentle new mixing going on, there’s downright power-guitar parts laced through the whole album, especially on the lead track, “The Tears and Music of Love,” which stands out as a signal of what all of Maggie is about: hard-driving tranquility.
There’s a subtle play between the music and Satomi’s voice that few bands have been able to recreate, much less engage with for ten whole albums. While this is nothing new, songs like “Eaguru Guru” display a difficulty in both songwriting and song playing that is to be admired.
Offend Maggie doesn’t bring much new to the table, typifying that Deerhoof sound that fans have grown to love. It does, however, deliver with all cannons firing. A sonic mind-trip that is equal parts anxious and contemplative, Offend Maggie is worth every second you invest in it. Stylistic and expert, this is prog rock that hasn’t lost sight of the “rock” and so, is as accessible as it is intelligent. The best part: the album listens like it was simply brushed off the shoulders, as if this were the most organic thing for a band to do.
High Point
“Buck and Judy,” with its instrumentals that break apart around each other and still hold your ear, is probably the best and most beautiful example of that “chaotic and calm” feeling that Deerhoof have perfected.
Low Point
“This Is God Speaking” is a gentle aside near the end of the album that “fits,” but is entirely unnecessary and far too blatantly conceptual. The band has done a perfectly good job with regular songs and this experimental remark stands awkwardly apart from the rest.
Posted by Mark Steffen on Oct 14, 2008 @ 7:00 am