Transference
Anytime we hear a new album, expect to get a review. Be it albums we love, hate, expected more from, were surprised by, or found secret-satanic messages in (I’m talking to you Bon Iver. Don’t think I didn’t notice). If there’s a new album dropped that you think is worth a listen, don’t hesitate to give us a shout and we’ll tell you what we think.
So Spoon just released their seventh studio album Transference this week. Shying from the experimental nature that has garnered this band a loyal following and landed them Metacritic’s Artist of the Decade, Transference acts as a stylistic Best Of album. In a similar fashion to Wilco (the album) by Wilco, Spoon has taken the tried and tested sounds from their previous albums and packed them all into one place. Thematically, this sets Transference apart from other Spoon albums, as it lacks the homogeneity of sound found in each previous album. Despite this lack of cohesion, or maybe because of it, Transference sounds oddly just as a Spoon album should.
It’s pretty clear how Spoon’s past albums have influenced Transference. The simple instrumentals and potent lyrics of “The Mystery Zone” would make it the perfect complement to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (perhaps it could use a few more trademark horn blasts), while “Trouble” strips Spoon’s traditional 90s indie rock style down into a simplistic and melodic song that would fit right in with the tracks of Gimme Fiction. This reminiscent nature of Transference serves little towards the expansion of Spoon’s musical identity, but serves well to illustrate why the band has been so successful in the past. Transference allowed Spoon to rediscover how their music developed and evolved, and show off all of the things that they had done so well in their nearly two decades of work.
Completely unrelated: I grabbed this song off of these guys right before New Years. Still haven’t stopped listening to it.
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