Actually, You Can

Description

With over eighteen albums as experimental as they are pop, Deerhoof has continually sought radical sounds and bold storytelling. Galvanized by the challenge of unifying many styles of music, Deerhoof arrived at the concept of their next record: DIY-style baroque. Actually, You Can is a genre-rich album that uses technicolor brilliance and arpeggiated muscle to deliver a vital shock to the purgatorial grip of capitalism. Drummer Greg Saunier explains that in the United States, being a person means being a criminal, whether it's a general strike, forming a union, or the Black Lives Matter protests. With state borders and oceans separating the band members, Deerhoof not only reinvented its sonic and thematic creed but also its recording process. The musicians of Deerhoof are accustomed to recording their individual parts at home and have long embraced composition through file sharing. But the halt of touring in 2020 kicked off their longest separation, bringing new priorities to the fore. As the band's combined demo layers grew thicker, bassist and vocalist Satomi Matsuzaki put her foot down, insisting that the new album should capture the energy of live shows. Visualizing the quartet on massive stages with former tourmates like Radiohead and Red Hot Chili Peppers, Greg arranged his bandmates' complex demos into songs designed to make audiences smile and dance. He sought long delays, massive playing, and unique spatialization to evoke the power of outdoor music. During the recording process, they spent so much time imagining themselves playing together that the result almost feels like false memories of themselves playing this music together. By embracing each other's art with curiosity, Deerhoof creates a musical alphabet that continues to astonish and inspire, a unique lexicon that expands without limit on every album. For new listeners and decades-long enthusiasts alike, Deerhoof's generous and electrifying approach to collaborative world-building on Actually, You Can is a bold call to support our communities with renewed strength, infinite love, and the resilience to keep exploring.