Got Nothing to Lose but Loneliness and Patterns

Spoon just may be the biggest band to never have actually hit it big. The formed right around the time of the alternative music boon of the mid nineties but were never able to capitalize on it before the tide turned to teen pop later that decade. They never cracked the top ten albums chart until 2007 at a time when people stopped buying albums. But the band had cultivated a loyal fan base many of which list their occupation as music supervisor because their music continually shows up in movies and television shows like the most recent episode of Chuck which generously used their song Got Nuffin off their latest album (their song Don’t Make Me a Target also got that treatment throughout a season one episode of the show).

If all you know of Spoon are those thirty second spurts on your favorite television shows, Transference probably isn’t the album that will convert you into a fan. In fact after maybe their most pop accessible album in their catalog, Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, Transference is a big U-turn back to a very raw sounding which may be due to that it is the band’s first self produced album which was recorded in lead singer Brit Daniel’s house and why most of the songs feel like demo tracks.

The album closer, No One Gets Me But You, might as well be about their fans. The fly on the wall of a Spoon rehearsal vibe of the album is what the draw is for those with some familiarity with the band. Guitars are not tuned perfectly, Brit’s voice cracks mid song, and there is the charm of the album. It’s a live album without an audience with the band’s usual minimalist cool.

The tracks of Transference are quintessential Spoon; Before the Destruction sets up the album with a slow burn before switching to the bouncing along with staccato riffs of Is Love Forever. The band is at their best when they let loose with the cocksure and that most evident with their first two singles, Got Nuffin, which re-kick starts the album after the twin ballads before it, and Written in Reverse is a piano pounding track full will attitude.

Song to Download – Got Nuffin

Transference gets a on my Terror Alert Scale.