Spoon - "Transference"

In 2007, Spoon released Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, an album that was received with critical acclaim. Why there was acclaim was beyond me; that album was a poppy sell-out job that seemed to pull the wool over everyone's eyes. I finally chalked it up to a Spoon-can-do-no-wrong phenomenon, and just stopped listening to it. Usually, once a band is able to pull off that trick where every reviewer and fan is sucking at their teet, they never return to prior form. But now, in 2010, Spoon have released Transference, an album that takes Spoon back to what made them a great band to begin with, and Surprise! the reviews are bad, and the public disease of expecting never-ending accessibility and catchy, shitty songs is rearing its ugly symptoms. Those poor people; they've been poisoned, and have forgotten that a bizarre and hip-ly senseless song like "Who Makes Your Money" is why they liked Spoon in the first place.

I haven't forgotten, though, and I'm sure that there are still plenty post-apocalyptic Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga survivors that haven't either. Transference is a damn fine album, one that challenges you a bit and doesn't just show up to be your friend. Like I said, it's made of the stuff that doesn't quite fit into the canon of rock and roll. Opener "Before Destruction" seems half-written and undecided on the major/minor tones of its spine, but nevertheless, it intrigues you as unique, and projects (transference!) all sorts underlying feelings and creativity. These are the kind of fragments of music that Spoon excels at writing, but they still retain the ability to throw out a great "regular" rock song as well ("Written in Reverse"; I would also argue that "Out Go the Lights" is one of the better songs they've produced). Here, they keep that mix of the abnormal and normal, and perhaps save their career in the process. A fine start to 2010.