By Joshua Peck
Spoon’s new album entitled “They Want My Soul” was released in August and features a plethora of genre defining hits songs.
‘Rent I pay’ welcomes you to the in your face percussion and the powerful vocals of lead singer, Britt Daniel, featured in many of their songs. It’s these attributes which give the band their intriguingly unique sound that keeps their fans coming back for more.
‘Inside out’ only goes on to further grab at your attention with it’s mellow progressions. The array of background effects only complement the trance-like lyricism throughout the song.
‘Rainy Taxi’ seemingly builds upon the foundation laid out by it’s predecessors, featuring towards it’s end one of the best guitar solo’s of the album so far.
‘Do You’ brings us back to the more upbeat frame of the first song of the album, ‘Rent I pay’, but also immediately became my favorite. Unsurprisingly, this song is often considered to be the most largely popular song of the album, according to Spotify’s charts the song has upwards of 3.3 million views as of Sep 18, 2014. According to the same information featured on Spotify that gives it about as many views as their second and third most popular songs of the album combined!
‘Knock Knock Knock’ creates an incredible contrast from some of the other more congratulatory songs off the album, featuring a sort of beat that has your head bobbing and personally had me immediately hitting both favorite and repeat.
‘Outlier’ is quite the catalyst of a song; as it continues some of the vehemence of songs like ‘Knock Knock Knock’, but also presents it with a much more unreserved beat. That same beat is only to be met with yet another noteworthy performance by vocals and instrumentation both.
‘They Want My Soul’ immediately has me picturing myself walking along some New York City sidewalk soaking in the bustling world around, as I hurriedly make my way to my appointment. Something about ‘They Want My Soul’ reminds me of bands like The Clash and The Ramones, I must say, I like it a lot.
‘I Just Don’t Understand’, I just don’t understand how perfectly delivered this song is in it’s entirety. One can’t help but also take note of the refrain: “I just don’t understand” , and it eventually being transformed into “You just don’t understand” as the song reaches it’s closing.
‘Let Me Be Mine’ the second to last song of the album, is the epitome of Spoon’s sound. It’s a psychedelically thrilling piece, with thought provoking lyrics that add to it’s overarching aesthetic appeal, one of the best composed songs of the album.
‘New York Kiss’, the final song of the album, perfectly reflects on all of the passages formerly visited. Something about the album finale makes me want to go for a run; with intermittent slow motion shots, as the song beats on in the background.
Overall, the album is personally one of my favorites of the year. With enough diversity, progression, and thematic lyrics to keep you as metaphysically entertained. Spoon has once again delivered a remarkable album with a sound that really holds it’s own on every level.