With nothing more than ten days of jam sessions, contemporary indie giants Deerhoof release one of their best efforts in years.

There‰’s something so impressive about fluency. When a studio artist doodles out of boredom and produces a beautiful portrait, when your classically-trained friend sits casually at a piano and offhandedly plays out a sonata, it‰’s awe-inspiring when people become one with their art.

Deerhoof are a great band. We know that. Their 13-album discography has produced some of the most consistent and impressive contemporary indie/garage/punk rock that you can find. On their latest release, La Isla Bonita Deerhoof spent ten days in the studio — pretty much just messing around — with no real intentions of even creating an album, and accidentally stumbled into one of their most cohesive and enjoyable releases to date.

Maybe Deerhoof are just showing off at this point. La Isla Bonita comfortably ebbs and flows between the talents of all the band‰’s members. The two vocalists pass back and forth from emotional, drawn-out drawls to sharp, staccato yelps. The lyrics play dolefully at the childlike quality that Deerhoof have always owned while also burning with feminist punk ferocity. The drums and guitar that kick the album off on “Paradise Girls‰” are so clean and precise they could have been pulled from a Robert Fripp project. That‰’s not the end of the progressive-rock elements either. Tracks like Mirror Monster and Tiny Bubbles allow for what could only be described as jam sessions to seep into the tightly executed, brief songs.

While Deerhoof are obviously playing to their strengths here, the album also finds some new ground for the group. This album is more psychedelic than perhaps any they‰’ve released yet. The final track sees them straying from their punk ferocity to the realm of a prog-era epic, yet still contained within less than five minutes. The album as a whole is only about half an hour, and it never gets the chance to approach the sort of groundbreaking songwriting or sonic realization of some of their most acclaimed work. Still, Deerhoof have delivered a statement. Playful, chaotic and precise, they know who they are and what they can do. Give ‰em ten days and a DIY studio, and they can still just go, go go.

RIYL: Dirty Projectors, Bo Ningen, King Crimson, Tame Impala, progressive-psych-garage-math
Recommended Tracks: 1, 2, 5, 10