Like a lot of stories of recordings over the years, Spoon’s latest album Lucifer On The Sofa was largely recorded before being interrupted by various lockdowns. While other artists turned inward during this time, the virus didn’t seem to have a discernable effect on proceedings with the band producing a dynamic rock record. Co-written with Jack Antonoff several years ago, “Wild” has a propulsive energy while first single “The Hardest Cut” rides a great bass groove and a dirty guitar riff.
“On the Radio” has singer Britt Daniels looking back to listening to the radio as a little kid and singing, “it ain’t tragic/it’s like magic/I think I was born to it”. The energetic album largely produced by Mark Rankin starts to slow down towards the end with a few mid tempo tracks including “Astral Jacket” whose drums add a bit of thunder and the skyward looking “Satellite”. With two new members in tow for the recording of the 10 tracks on Lucifer On the Sofa, Spoon have released an early contender for rock record of the year.
8.5/10
Spoon’s eighth studio album, Hot Thoughts, is the one that broke this website! I was on a roll with reviews and then hit this one and found myself struggling on what to say or write about… for several weeks that turned into months. There’s plenty of good tracks here – the title track could fill an indie dancefloor in seconds, “First Caress” features a piano that sounds like it’s falling down the stairs, while “Shotgun” packs a mighty punch.
The Light Appears 