ALL WORK and no play might make Jack a dull boy, but it seems to have helped Spoon.
The Texas band’s ninth release, Hot Thoughts is an album that is funky, poppy and, going by the lyrics, one with an eye for the ladies. Part of that is due to the positivity being felt by their singer, Britt Daniel, but another element was going off to work with producer Dave Fridmann, staying at his studio in woods near New York.
“We’d be snowed in, at this old farmhouse, for weeks for a time and it really drove me bonkers,” says Daniel. “By the first night I was already feeling like I was in The Shining. It’s not the way I like to live, but Dave is a wonderful person and the sound there is so good that it was worthwhile…”
The move represented a shift from their usual working patterns, a routine that has brought them plenty of success over the years. They were once called the best reviewed band of the past decade by review aggregation website Metacritic, and Hot Thoughts has been showered with praise.
The secret is that their well crafted indie rock tends to advance in different directions on each record, without ever shifting into an unrecognisable shape.
“We worked with Mike McCarthy on all our records throughout the 2000s and we knew we could make a good record with him, but working with Dave has broadened the horizons a bit.
"We have always shied away from making records that were really loud. To us, records that were made to sound like that were intended for alternative radio and to compete with generic, alt rock songs. But Dave has a way of making things sound loud and big, but they’re coming apart at the seams too. There’s something dangerous there, that’s not cookie cutter in any way.”
Daniel himself can take plenty of the credit too. He’s apologetic when he answers the phone, having developed an interest in running recently. That meant he went out for a jog, lost track of time and was slightly late for our chat (he has no reason to apologise – by musician standards he’s on time).
He likes running because it “puts me in a good headspace for the day ahead” and a similarly optimistic vibe is reflected throughout Hot Thoughts.
“I felt positive when writing, and just kinda happy,” says the 46-year-old, who formed the band in 1993 with drummer Jim Eno. “Even though the world at large was falling apart, my personal life felt good and I was really confident with the music that we were making. It felt like we were doing things that we hadn’t done before.”
Speaking of the world falling apart, the past year has seen Spoon, along with many American acts, use social media to make clear their unhappiness at the rise of Donald Trump and the success of right wing politics. Several months into Trump’s Presidency, has it been what he feared?
“It’s been as bad as we expected,” he says. “It’s unreal to be in this world where the focus is on a guy that’s a nincompoop and his ego is what everyone is trying to work around. That’s the main consideration, his ego and everything to do with that. Sometimes I feel ‘that’s done it, he won’t survive this’ but then he keeps getting away with it. At some point something has to break – hopefully it’s not me!”
Politics aside, Daniel sounds in good shape. The prospect of touring again seems to have energised him, as it usually does.
“There’s only been a few times with this band when I’ve thought ‘eh, maybe I’d like to be home’. Maybe the last time that happened was during [their 2010 album] Transference because I think I was very focused on the business side of music then. For the 2000’s we were selling more and more with each record, maybe over twice as much each time. Transference was the first time we weren’t selling as much as the one before.
“It was an intentionally introverted record that wasn’t universally loved, and that’s what we wanted – then we put it out and we still wanted people to like it. We could feel that people weren’t really loving it and that was tough for me to deal with.”
Part of their current jaunt brings them to Scotland next week, when they play the Art School in Glasgow on Wednesday. It is a city that brings one band in particular to mind for Daniel.
“I was obsessed with the Yummy Fur for a while. I loved their record Sexy World. They played a reunion tour a few years ago and I saw them at a small club in LA during it. You know, I’d love them to play with us sometime – I should have looked into that sooner than a week before the show!”
Spoon play The Art School, Glasgow on Wednesday June 28.
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