Review
By: Patrick Dillon
Album: They Want My Soul (2014)
Can you really fault a band for consistency? Over six solid studio albums (check out Kill The Moonlight, and GaGaGaGaGa) Spoon have proven, unlike so many other noughties indie rockers, that they’re in it for the long haul, consistently delivering killer grooves, varied instrumentation, and frontman Brit Daniel’s raw and impassioned vocal delivery. It wasn't until their forgettable 2010 album: Transference, that the band began to show signs of deterioration. Four years and many side projects later, (most notably Brit Daniel’s indie supergroup: Divine Fits), Spoon returns for their eighth studio effort with 10 new tracks, a new member (Divine Fit’s Keyboardist and Guitarist Alex Ficshel), and a new co-producer Dave Fridmann (of Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev fame). Is it enough to keep Spoon sounding fresh into the new decade?
Yes….kind of. On They Want My Soul, Spoon offer up 10 solid Pop-Rock tunes full of sugary hooks, driving grooves, and great production. The only major problem i have with this record is none of it sounds terribly, well, exciting! Despite some really solid tunes on this thing i cant help but feel like we've been here before. Songs like “Let Me Be Mine” and “They Want My Soul” aren't necessarily bad, on the contrary they’re well produced and well preformed, but they don't show much real progression as a band. Its been over ten years since Spoon’s breakthrough Girls Can Tell, and Spoons sound hasn’t exactly evolved.
You get all the things you’d expect from a Spoon record; poppy hooks, solid grooves, and Spoon’s typical mix of layered pop, and soulful indie rock. You also get the instrumentation you’d expect from a modern rock record; guitars, bass, and synths are all present with a few extra tricks to spice up the tracks. And with only ten tracks, its not like They Want My Soul is exactly brimming with content either.
As far as I can tell the biggest risk Spoon takes on this new LP is enlisting new co-producer Dave Fridmann. Fridmann’s typically psychedelic and layered production does wonders for a handful of tracks here. “Knock Knock Knock”, offers probably the best beat i’ve heard on a rock record this year, and the layered and cascading synth leads on “Inside Out” nicely showcase Spoon’s slower, more stripped back side. Even the tracks Spoon produce themselves seem to take influence from Fridmann’s style. “New York Kiss”, builds and layers appropriately with a strong backbeat, poppy chorus, and powerful guitar, and lead single “Do You” is about as solid a pop-rock song as you could ask for, with a great hook, and some nice piano and synth closing out the track.
Regardless of exactly who produced witch track, each of the ten songs on this album are mixed and recorded excellently. I love the crisp, precision drums and warm bass that make up the rhythm section, and the thin crunch of the guitars are nothing to scoff at either. New keyboardist Alex Ficshel’s cascading watery synths are a welcome addition to the Spoon line up and the extra instrumentation on some of these tracks really brings them to life with added personality. Speaking of personality, frontman Brit Daniel’s trademark swaggering howl returns with full force on this LP, often improving the more generic tracks by injecting some much needed, well…soul!
Spoon comes through with another very solid pop-rock record, full of well produced, well written, pop-rock tunes. Other than some very small technical gripes, (some grooves fall flat, some endings are lackluster, a few generic lyrical topics) There isn’t much keeping me from recommending this album to anyone who loves indie rock. It may not do anything really new or exciting, and it may only last under 40 minutes. Still, what They Want My Soul does do, it does well. Rock fans will like it, Spoon fans will probably love it, I’d call that a success.
I Like These Tracks: “Knock Knock Knock”, “Do You”, “Inside Out”, “New York Kiss”
I Didn’t Like These Tracks: “Outlier”, “Let Me Be Mine”
Score: 7.5/10
No comments:
Post a Comment