By Jesse Cataldo
At what point in time did cover art become so important? Looking through a stack of old records, you’ll find most covers emblazoned with images of the band themselves, either brimming with smiles or wrapped in cold somber brooding. While covers are still often the place for musicians to try out their tough guy rockstar poses, we can more often feast our eyes on more abstract, artistic visions. The cover art, even more so than the title, is the essential first impression. The sole image on the cover of Deerhoof’s recent album is a ghoulish masked Milk Man, stark white with fruit protruding from odd angles. The Milk Man gives us the most important information you could have about Deerhoof-they’re freakin’ crazy.
The Milk Man is actually the central character of the album, which bears his name. Developed over the course of 11 songs is his story-he captures small children and carries them up to his castle in the sky. Why? It’s hard to say, as Satomi Matsuzaki’s simple, childish lyrics convey the story as if it were being told by a seven-year-old. The approach is most comparable to Stereolab, with oft-repeated lines functioning more as melodic set pieces than actual narrative. The suspense-building guitar and major chord piano of “Rainbow Silhouette of the Milky Man” gives way to “Dog on the Sidewalk,” which repeats the title line several times before giving way to a hail of falling pebbles and clattering raindrops. “New Sneakers” does more to confound the listener, as the repeating chorus of “strawberry fields, banana trees / banana fields, strawberry trees” hints at the Milk Man’s fruit-covered self without giving any hint of what it means. However, if you’re still trying to decipher the lyrical message by this point, you’re thinking too hard.
Deerhoof’s charm has always been with juxtaposing the bizarre musicality with the sugary pep of its lyrical sections. Milk Man is true to this aspect, settling in as a happy medium between the rampant experimentalism of Revielle and the tighter structuring of Apple-O. At this point in their career, moving back to a formulaic song structure is a more rebellious move than moving further out into art rock oblivion.
