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Originally Posted by betweenthebars
Remarkably consistent band. Britt Daniels' songwriting has finally gotten the recognition and respect it deserves this past decade and he continues to be backed by one of the strongest rhythm sections working today.
Hot Thoughts is excellent and I like it better than TWMS. I put it on level with Transference happens to be one of my favorites of theirs.
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Oh man, I couldn't agree more.
I really couldn't get that into
TWMS. I waited for that album with this frenzied anticipation; the kind that I honestly don't experience much with rock music anymore. I think many of us worried that Spoon was done during that uncharacteristically lengthy period of inactivity after
Transference (which is definitely one of my favorites as well, though it wasn't at first), and in the months leading up to
TWMS, I thought something fucking critical was going to happen. Something major. Another milestone hard left of an album in the tradition of
Girls Can Tell and
Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.
But when it did come out, it sounded Spoony and stuff, but something was missing. More than anything, I think that album lacked the "negative space" element I mentioned earlier. That remarkable use of silence in the space between notes... the reverb... the organized clutter that makes the intro of "Paper Tiger," or the piano squall in "Nobody Gets Me..." or all of "The Ghost of You Lingers" so goddamn great.
TWMS didn't have any moments like those that just tickle your senses in the best possible way. Very little of it stood out to me at all. It's not bad... but I haven't felt compelled to revisit it much in the past 3 years.
Hot Thoughts is Spoon, returning, triumphant, in full form.
I finally got a chance to listen to it all yesterday while I was working, and it made me stop what I was doing several times just to savor the moments. It closes with a freaking subdued free jazz/rags hybrid thing. Lovely! And "I Ain't the One" has all the markings of Britt's incredible ear for strange hooks and elegant storytelling.
It's way better than
TWMS and it has me excited about listening to it more and uncovering its depths and stumbling into its weird, dark corners.
Good fuckin' shit.
