With a sixth album looming, Spoon seem to be making some inroads towards gaining more than just a small smattering of critical acclaim. Britt Daniel and Jim Eno have been around for some time, and while the band has undergone numerous line-up changes, they have remained the solid core of the group. Spoon are forever mentioned in the same sentences as bands like Pavement and Sonic Youth. Certainly their music can be quite challenging, although somehow it manages to retain a snarling pop sensibility.
I Turn My Camera On is no different - It's built around a spiky new wave riff that brings to mind the likes of Magazine, or Gang Of Four, while hinting at where the likes of Franz Ferdinand may have got their chops. B-sides Carryout Kids and You Was It demonstrate the more capricious side of the group, with piano motifs bashed out and endlessly riffed upon. Vocals recorded by umpteen cancerous microphones are drowned out by a bass that is never not constantly in the red, and some relentlessly tight drumming. It's the dark side of the Spoon.
Whether the classy pop of I Turn My Camera On can win enough hearts to elevate Spoon to a level that they deserve remain to be seen. It's possible that their cantankerous nature may just keep them as a critic's favorite secret.
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