Artist: Spoon

Title: Transference

Label: Merge

Genre: Rock/Pop

It took Spoon fourteen years and four record labels to find major success. While most bands would have conceded defeat and the band members would have left to pursue other projects, Spoon persevered and not only made one of the top albums of 2007, they were all over the radio and television with some of the catchiest tunes of the decade from their album Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. While their last album title may have sounded like a parent cooing over their infant, Spoon’s last album spring boarded the band into a sound that used the studio as an extra instrument. That sound is extended now with Transference to start their third decade as premier rockers of the indie world.

Taking their name from the German band Can’s song “Spoon” is a lofty choice for a name. While Can experimented with fifteen minutes of noises imposed over music, Spoon chooses the pop version. Listening to Transference is transportation into the music studio as small clips of ambiance entrench each song into a full explosion of sound from every angle. The “noise” of the studio lifts the listener into an experience much like Can produced nearly forty years ago.

Experimentation with restraint seems to be the name of Spoons game. “I Saw the Light” breaks into almost what would be considered a jam session. “Written in Reverse” carries the catchiest song of year into a dance party. “Trouble” may have well been written and recorded in a studio down the hall from The Who. “Goodnight Laura” is possibly collaboration with the Rolling Stones of 1967. The collection of songs in general almost gives the album a demo feel. A demo feel that feels recorded in a garage and then run through demo filters and then forgotten for about ten years and then given a bad remastering job. This amalgam of sounds makes this forty-three minutes pure fun.

Spoon has put together yet another amazing album. Their career may have only taken off three years ago, but their last four albums have been pure artistic pleasure. It must feel good being in the spotlight, but the pressure of making another album as catchy and marketable as Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga was very heavy. Not only did their break through the pressure to produce, they have outdone themselves again.

www.spoontheband.com