The world keeps spinning, and Spoon go on with their business. ‘They Want My Soul’ is really very good, but of course you already knew that, didn’t you? Their ability to deliver, even with a different approach in place and a couple of new stylistic tricks to play with, has become something of an indie-rock constant.
‘Transference’ took their nuanced sound to the upper reaches of the Billboard chart back in 2011, but its follow up is clearly the work of a band who haven’t taken it to heart.
Spoon have embraced certain trappings of wider success here - producers Dave Fridmann and Joe Chiccarelli aren’t widely renowned for nothing - but in doing so have reinforced the natty line in subversion and experimentation that has always augmented the straight-ahead pleasures of their sound.
On ‘They Want My Soul’ that side of the band is cut loose to an extent that we haven’t seen before. Bolstered by the introduction of Alex Fischel on keys, many of the record’s most satisfying hooks are discovered after meandering, atmospheric passages.
The opening of Inside Out, for example, pits a typically soulful Britt Daniel vocal with a processed beat and an almost cyclical, ethereal structure. Meanwhile, Knock Knock Knock’s acoustic guitars jab at one another; swells of noise jutting in and out of the frame before Daniel unfurls a huge melody. There’s something deeply satisfying about it.
There are plenty of ghosts lurking in the album’s dark corners, too. Daniel appears to spend much of his time in a reflective frame of mind, whether he’s being attacked from all sides on the title track, taking a sly dig at indie tastes on Outliers or trying to understand how to fill certain spaces on Inside Out: “I don’t have time for holy rollers...I won’t be their soldier.”
There’s a romantic melancholy to New York Kiss, the album’s synth-powered closer, and its retraced memories that sends ‘They Want My Soul’ out on a perfectly judged note. Spoon are a band who understand what their past means in the context of their future. By changing things up ever so slightly they have given their old tricks new mileage.
Spoon Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Fri November 07 2014 - LONDON O2 Shepherd's Bush Empire
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