Spoon - Hot Thoughts


Hot Thoughts.

"Took time off from my kingdom, took a break from the war...."

I don't think Spoon belongs to any particular subgenre, this is just 21st century rock. They went back to Matador for this last album, so i guess it's indie by default, but it's also psychedelic noise timber collage wrapped up in an 80s neon adidas track suit, but not in a joke kind of way. If pop-rock could be a free-form scrap quilt of sparkly sound gems from every single piece of equipment in the studio, this would go in whatever you call that genre. Not really baroque or psychedelic pop, not really garage-indie, more like testing out all the sound effects on your synthesizer while everybody's pogo-ing on the dance floor.

This is a stellar album. It sounds amazing and the songs really do have a tip of the tongue, exploding mental kaleidoscope feel to them. They feel like pop songs, but Britt Daniels doesn't use formulaic catchphrases or mindless repetition, or any formulaic poetic structures. I don't mean it's rambling, i just mean it's not overtly formulaic. They aren't quite stories, more in the moment feelings or auras. And the whole thing ends with this beautiful midnight in the city type sax/percussion/ambiance experimental soundscape thing called "Us" that turns the whole experience into Britt's internal monologue of an urban love story.

I have They Want My Soul as well and i want to explore their whole discography at some point. As for Hot Thoughts, if i had more than two thumbs, those would also be up.

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