The Magic (album)

This article is about the 2016 studio album by Deerhoof. For similarly named albums, see Magic (disambiguation).

The Magic is the fourteenth studio album by American experimental rock band Deerhoof, released in June 2016 through Polyvinyl.

The Magic
Studio album by Deerhoof
Released	June 24, 2016
Length	40:18
Label	Polyvinyl
Deerhoof chronology
Balter/Saunier (2016) The Magic (2016) Mountain Moves (2017)

Production

In April 2016, Deerhoof announced The Magic, its first studio album since their 2014 La Isla Bonita.^[1]

Joseph Baughman created the music video for the album's "The Devil and his Anarchic Surrealist Retinue". Baughman described his style as a slow-motion improvisation. The clay animated video features chessboard pieces and multicolored minotaurs.^[2] Gary McQuiggin created the video for "Dispossessor", featuring Professor Raphael Appleblossom (eccentric alter ego of author Matthew Watkins) "demonstrating" the Banach-Tarski Paradox.^[3]

Critical reception

Professional ratings

Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	79/100[4]
Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[5]
Pitchfork	6.9/10[6]
Exclaim!	9/10[7]

The album received "generally favorable" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic.^[4] Exclaim!'s Anna Alger was extremely positive, writing that the album "finds the wholly original and ever-engaging band at their most cohesive and versatile — which is saying a lot, given their dynamic history."^[7]

Track listing

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Devil and His Anarchic Surrealist Retinue"	3:14
2.	"Kafe Mania!"	2:43
3.	"That Ain't No Life to Me"	1:52
4.	"Life Is Suffering"	3:36
5.	"Criminals of the Dream"	5:00
6.	"Model Behavior"	2:35
7.	"Learning to Apologize Effectively"	3:15
8.	"Dispossessor"	2:09
9.	"I Don't Want to Set the World on Fire"	1:36
10.	"Acceptance Speech"	3:00
11.	"Patrasche Come Back"	0:47
12.	"Debut"	2:54
13.	"Plastic Thrills"	2:01
14.	"Little Hollywood"	2:56
15.	"Nurse Me"	2:41
Total length:		40:18