Spoon // They Want My Soul
The sole founding members of Spoon have mastered the art of piecing together separate sonic parts to create a memorable whole, carefully constructing songs with basic elements before adding special touches through audio engineering tricks to dazzle all of the headphone listeners out there.
Spoon
They Want My Soul
Loma Vista
4.5 Stars
Britt Daniel and Jim Eno are two of the best puzzle solvers in the music business. The sole founding members of Spoon have mastered the art of piecing together separate sonic parts to create a memorable whole, carefully constructing songs with basic elements (guitar, drums, piano, etc.) before adding special touches through audio engineering tricks to dazzle all of the headphone listeners out there. Spoon's latest finished puzzle is the excellent They Want My Soul, the band's first new full-length album since 2010's Transference. Daniel and Eno teamed up with notable producers Jo Chiccarelli and Dave Fridmann to create the sonic tableaus, adding in a slightly spacey sound on tracks like the dreamy "Inside Out," a gentle gem of a song. Despite the outside help, They Want Your Soul is still very much a Spoon record, highlighting Daniel's sense of casual alt-swagger to Spoon's rock 'n' roll over 10 memorable tracks. – Alex Bieler