Spoon
Transference
(Merge)

Let’s start from arrears shall we? ‘Nobody Gets Me But You’ is the last track on Spoon’s seventh record but left me the most perplexed and feeling as if I just finished listening to Dez Dickerson and his Modernaires divvy out some funk on Minneapolis’ First Avenue stage back in the ‘80s. However, the rest of the LP is unmistakably Spoon as Britt Daniel’s lead vocals are one of the most recognizable set of pipes in all of indiedom. It is getting to be a habit of mine to blatantly ignore anything Pitchfork rates higher than 7.0, (their best of list for 2009 was way off the mark), but I have enjoyed Spoon since 2002’s ‘Kill the Moonlight’ and their latest, although hardly essential, doesn’t necessarily disappoint. For instance, “Is Love Forever” finds all the ELO stomp and stammer from previous records still blissfully intact. “Trouble Comes Running” harkens back to days of Guided By Voices both vocally and sonically while “Goodnight Laura” smoothly serenades via a piano ballad. Other than the last cut and the slow opening, “Before Destruction”, (as previous Spoon releases start like gang-busters), ‘Transference’ throws few surprises as far as new ground covered which, in this day and age of some wacky indie pop, is a pleasantry.

-James


» Buy Transference Now!