Spoon - They Want My Soul

Austin indie-rockers' follow-up to 2010's Transference

Spoon's first new album in four years!

"Fantastically infectious... a band at the most confident point of its career." — NPR's All Songs Considered

Over their many years together, Austin-based indie rockers Spoon consistently released a highly-acclaimed album every couple of years or so — a model of consistency.

"Between 2001 and 2010, we put out five records, which is not a lot by '60s standards. But in terms of today's standards, it's pretty fast, says Spoon's Britt Daniel. So it wasn't surprising that a bit of a break seemed called for. "And when we got back together, I felt that break was a good thing. And we were all excited about playing again."

The new album They Want My Soul is the band's first for ex-Warner Bros. chairman/ceo Tom Whalley's Loma Vista Recordings, his joint venture with Monte and Avery Lipman's Republic label.

Spoon's eighth album landed the alt-rock band its best vinyl sales week in its first week debut. The new album topped the vinyl albums chart with 7,000 copies sold. The number accounted for 18 percent of They Want My Soul's first week overall unit sales, including digital; Spoon bowed at No. 3 on Top Rock Albums with They Want My Soul, selling 39,000 copies. Over on the Billboard 200, the set enters at No. 4 — equaling the debut and peak of their last release, 2010's Transference.

As for the music — featuring a heavy-handed bacj beat and a steady, driving mid-tempo beat, "Rent I Pay," the album's lead single, sets the stage for a new era of Spoon. The fuzzy hooks and grooving guitars are there, reports musictimes.com, but there's something notably mature about this track, be it the roaring vocals or the constrained instrumentation.

The album was recorded this past winter, mostly at Public HiFi in Austin and Tarbox in Cassadaga, NY. For the first time the band worked with outside producers. "It was the first time we’ve had the chance to work with Dave Fridmann (Flaming Lips, MGMT, Creaming Jesus) and we’re pretty sure that the levels indicate this to be our loudest record — it’s also Deux Deux’s favorite," writes the band, in a press release. "What else…Side One begins with the gnarliest Jim Eno drum sound ever recorded and Side Two ends with Rob Pope’s bass amp completely breaking down to fuzz + hiss at the end of a take. The record’s got beats, whispers, chants, guitars, whistles, secret codes, and horror-movie strings. It’s got songs about holy rollers, back masking, real life properties of physics, love during the apocalypse and a brief reappearance of Jonathon Fisk."