SPOON

Transference

[Merge Records]

Long known as a bastion of alternative country, Austin has also spawned some of America’s most adventurous pop bands. At the top of the heap stands Spoon, a quartet that strives to balance experimental art rock with jagged guitar pop in a way that’s palatable to mainstream listeners. Transference achieves that goal better than anything the group has released thus far. Packed with angular guitars, staccato rhythms and progressive funk grooves, the set often sounds like an imaginative hybrid of vintage Kinks and mid-period Sonic Youth. Notable moments include “Written in Reverse,” a bouncy, groove-oriented track fitted with barrelhouse piano; “Goodnight Laura,” a haunting piano ballad that brings to mind the solo work of John Cale; and the riff-driven “Is Love Forever?” Throughout, singer-guitarist Britt Daniel’s sandpapery rasp—think Ray Davies mixed with Box Tops-era Alex Chilton—tethers Spoon’s flighty excursions to something akin to Memphis soul. –Russell Hall