San Francisco band proves it’s not afraid to let a project sprawl
For a band that’s built its reputation on a series of experimental, relatively short releases, a 57-minute album spread across 20 songs seems downright epic by comparison. Deerhoof’s eighth full-length, The Runners Four, leaps all over the map stylistically but features some of the band’s most stripped-down and accessible work to date. Satomi Matsuzaki’s childlike vocals swim just beneath the unpredictable racket supplied by her bandmates—drummer Greg Saunier and guitarists Chris Cohen and John Dieterich—but rise above the fray at just the right moments. With The Runner’s Four, Deerhoof has forged yet another delightfully odd pop gem, multi-faceted and sparkling with creativity.