Spoon

Editor's Review:

Texas trio Spoon - Britt Daniel (guitar / vox), Jim Eno (drums), Josh Zarbo (bass) - have had quite a little career, spanning the better part of the last decade and producing 15 releases - singles, EPs and full-lengths - on various indie labels, (most notable Merge and Matador) and one big one, Elektra. It's been a quietly busy time for these guys, and their fan base, though never at the elevated radar level of some fellow Texans with MC5 afros, has always been a strong, fervent group of followers.
Girls Can Tell, Spoon's latest Merge release, is a collection of the kind of tunes singer songwriter Britt Daniel has become famous for - beautifully fucked-up pop music and catchy rock numbers, that exude a stark brightness, like a calm frozen tundra on a sunny winter day. While the overall feeling of this music seems to come from a dark little place in Daniel's center, the sound itself is as lush and radiant as any botanical garden in spring. Simple, but perfect guitar lines ring out short and catchy hooks, and accent from time to time with harsher strokes, interweaving with added keyboard lines and other guitar tracks to create full melodic soundscapes that are only superceded by Daniel's frank and honest, slightly scratchy lyrical delivery and content. It's a bit of a juxtaposition - the feeling and the sound contained herein - and it is what's at the center of what makes this such a memorable album.

- Max Sidman


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Record Label Merge Records Released January 1980

Tracks 1. Everything Hits At Once 2. Believing is Art 3. Me and the Bean 4. Lines in the Suit 5. The Fitted Shirt 6. Anything You Want 7. Take a Walk 8. 1020 AM 9. Take the Fifth 10. This Book is a Movie 11. Chicago at Night