1. Overrated Species Anyhow
2. Sparrow Sparrow

Credits
Written, played, recorded and mixed by:
Satomi Matsuzaki
Ed Rodriguez
John Dieterich
Greg Saunier

VISIT DEERHOOF.WEBSITE to watch us cut the new Deerhoof single live in real time!

The stream will last for two hours and the lathe-cut will be available to purchase for a period of 24 hours (from 4PM 2/25 - 4PM 2/26 E.S.T.). During that 24 hour period all lathe-cut + download purchases on Bandcamp or the Joyful Noise website will be donated to the Trevor Project, the leading organization focusing on suicide prevention in LGBTQ+ youth. 

“Sparrow Sparrow” is being released as a “double”—that is, a single with two songs, like you may remember from back in the days of physical media—along with “Overrated Species Anyhow.”

“Overrated Species Anyhow” is an achingly beautiful lament and celebration of “animals” “savages” and “aliens,” Satomi Matsuzaki’s austere folksong matching perfectly to a veritable wilderness of heavenly choirs and chirping birds. Like Jean Ritchie backed by John Williams, and every bit as disturbing as that sounds.

On “Sparrow Sparrow,” the “animals, savages and aliens” turn out to be more sensitive and intelligent than expected. Deerhoof’s meticulous racket seems to flow directly out of Satomi’s nimble vocal phrasing, or vice versa. She shifts her emphasis, and the rest of the band subtly adjusts their rhythm to accommodate it; or they veer from one cubist dance-rock groove to another and she fits in immediately. The connections between each element—Matsuzaki’s own depth-charge bass lines, Greg Saunier’s monster drum beat evoking a Purdie shuffle chopped up and sampled in an MPC, John Dieterich and Ed Rodriguez’s guitars like a layer of crumpled aluminum foil draped over the rhythm section, reflecting light at unpredictable angles—are so natural and intuitive that it almost sounds simple.