Deerhoof 'Struggle' for Personality Balance on 'Deerhoof Vs. Evil'

"Every album is a battle against evil, I guess," Deerhoof guitarist John Dieterich tells Spinner. "Every time, it's a struggle for us to try to make sense of four different personalities."

Such is a statement you'd expect from a member of Deerhoof, one of the more challenging indie rock acts to emerge over the last 15 years. These days, their approach to songwriting isn't necessarily about making things difficult or hard to grasp or angular like you'd surmise but more about finding new ways around old instruments.

"With 2008's 'Offend Maggie,' we were going for a rock sound. With 'Deerhoof Vs. Evil,' we were trying to capture different elements of the guitars," Dieterich explains. "Trying to find guitar parts that are typically avoided and bring those out, by combining this acoustic sound with electric instruments, with an actual electric sound."

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For the 12 tracks that comprise 'Evil,' Deerhoof spent only a month tracking, working off rough mixes they recorded prior, but that doesn't sound particularly evil. It actually sounds quite normal. In fact, a lot of the material on 'Evil' has a downright pleasant, more pop-oriented direction than their recent records. Short acoustic numbers like 'No One Asked to Dance' and 'Must Fight Current' lie within weird pop songs like 'Super Duper Rescue Heads!' and 'Secret Mobilization,' giving 'Evil' a happier disposition that usually isn't associated with Deerhoof. Arty? Yes. Weird? Sure. But not sunny.

"The words pop can mean a million different things," Dieterich says. "In our case, we're trying to make something that expresses what it is we're trying to express clearly. Part of that came from the material and part of it was a conscious effort to get away from what we did last."

For most of 2011, they'll tour in support of 'Evil,' with a one-off show this summer in London, where they'll perform their 2004 album 'Milk Man' in its entirety. 'Deerhoof vs. Evil' is out now on Polyvinyl.

Deerhoof Perform 'Let's Dance the Jet'

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