- Critic score
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Mar 28, 2023The performances are some of the most articulate and explosive in the band’s enviable catalogue, while also making room for moments of exquisite tenderness. ... The album in Deerhoof’s discography that Miracle-Level is closest to in feel is probably 2008’s Offend Maggie, where the band effectively balances ferocity with sweetness, dissonance with anthemic melody. At this stage in their career it feels miraculous that Deerhoof keep on releasing music that’s quite this vital and inventive.
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Apr 5, 2023Miracle-Level by Deerhoof is as vitalizing as it is soft-hearted. The studio sound has fully revealed accomplished players interested in exploring the humanitarian capabilities of music, expressing, however vaguely or explicitly, a longing for the miraculous and a rejection of the mundane.
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Mar 31, 2023In less capable hands, this sonic goulash could sound incoherent or sloppy, but that’s the magic of Deerhoof; they take all of these disparate elements and somehow transfigure them into cohesive songs. At its core, Miracle-Level is a celebration of the human spirit, one that offers optimism and wonder in the face of pessimism and hopelessness.
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Mar 31, 2023Miracle-Level is about seizing the opportunity to come together to create music and change -- a message that, like their other 2020s work, is just as eternal as it is timely.
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Mar 28, 2023Their experimentation lies more structurally than sonically here. ... It also means that when they do lock into an extended groove it feels all the more impactful, be it the slinky The Little Maker, or the fractious firestorm that emerges in the middle of Momentary Art of Soul! It makes for an album where brevity belies what an enlivening and broad world it contains.
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The WireMar 28, 2023For whatever accessibility that might be lost in the decision to eschew English lyrics is balanced by a fresh emotional immediacy. Arrangements are sparse and pristine, each sound serving a purpose. ... An album that witnesses Deerhoof at their most vulnerable and volatile. [Apr 2023, p.52]
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Apr 3, 2023Deerhoof are at both their most whimsical and most energetically approachable on Miracle-Level.
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UncutMar 28, 2023One of its overarching joys is its relative directness, very much a conscious deciaion on the group's part. This is Deerhoof we're talking about, though - they still play it like they're hurtling towards collapse at breakneck speed, before pulling everything together with a fantastic flourish. [May 2023, p.28]
Awards & Rankings
User score distribution:
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Positive: 2 out of 3
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Mixed: 1 out of 3
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Negative: 0 out of 3
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Aug 21, 2023It could have been a bit better. Overall it is a listenable album. I also really like the album cover.
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May 16, 2023