by Randal Schmidt
With the release of Spoon’s seventh album, Transference, the indie band from Austin continues their impressive career that began nearly two decades ago.
Following on the heels of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, their most commercially and critically acclaimed work, the new record had high expectations to meet and while it does not reshape the musical landscape in any groundbreaking way, Transference is a decent collection of songs.
Living up to a previous success is never easy for any artist, but Spoon does not try to top themselves, so if you were looking for something bigger and better from them, pass on this one. There is nothing spectacular about the music of Transference.
Do not misunderstand. What Spoon does here is still better than a lot of the other indie rock stuff out there and if you are a fan, they have produced an enjoyable album that you will want to replay.
Songs like “Who Makes Your Money” show that leader singer, Britt Daniel, is a talented musician who can at once pen an intriguing piece about materialism and still mingle his voice brilliantly with Rob Pope’s bass lines.
Transference is marred elsewhere, however, and it is a shame because it heavily detracts from the work as a whole, messing up any cohesion between the songs that the band might have been going for.
The most damaging is “Before Destruction” which, besides earning the distinction as one of the worst songs on the CD, also claims the opening spot. This gets the band off to a poor start and leaves a sour taste that lingers through the next song, “Is Love Forever?”
For some reason, these two early songs have a pounding drum beat that overwhelms everything else in them. While this may be good if you want to go bumping and blast out the other drivers on the road, it does not work if you are looking for great music. Odd transitions between songs that sound broken do not help.
Transference is saved from becoming a complete waste of time and money by the later songs, like the above mentioned “Who Makes Your Money?” The unclear sound of the chorus makes the title line sound like “Who Makes You Mine?” adding another layer to an already interesting song.
Late in the work, “Goodnight Laura” comes up and the boys take a break from the pounding beats and guitar sounds to sing a soft ballad. It is a great piece of slow tempo piano music, but feels slightly out of place when it follows something like the rocking “Trouble Comes Running.”
The highlight of Transference is definitely “Written In Reverse,” a song that stings with its attitude. With lines like “And I wanna show you how I love you but there’s nothing there,” the tune singlehandedly makes the album. The angry chorus contains an incredible display of vocal talent when Daniel screams his way through and brings to mind John Lennon’s hoarseness on “Twist and Shout.”
In Transference, Spoon has delivered a work that hits incredible highs, but these are sadly far too few to overcome the bad beginning and the mediocre songs that fill most of the album.
The band has had and will ultimately continue to have an outstanding career making music, but Transference should only be bought by diehard fans. Your best bet is simply buying “Written in Reverse” from iTunes and being done with it.
2 ½ Stars out of 5