Spoon
"Hot Thoughts"
(Matador (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK)(ASTERISK))
"Hot Thoughts" is the most dance-floor-directed of Spoon's nine albums, a truth-in-titling 10-song exercise in getting frisky. The four-piece fronted by Britt Daniel has been a remarkably consistent outfit since finding its taut, itchy groove with "Girls Can Tell" in 2001. Daniel and drummer Jim Eno excel at efficiency. They're masters of always-holding-something-back minimalism in four-minute songs with sharpened hooks that rarely overplay their hand. There's no attempt at reinvention here, but a few notable tweaks. Multi-instrumentalist Eric Harvey has left the band, and Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev associate Dave Fridmann has come aboard as coproducer, drawing out the band's experimental side, particularly on the closing jazz instrumental "Us." On "Tear It Down," Spoon makes a reference to wall building that may or may not be making a political point with a non-specificity that is typical of a band whose songs satisfy because of how they sound, not what they mean.
_Dan DeLuca
