Blowin Indie Wind Spoon Aims High and Strips the Moon to Minimalist Perfection

Author: Erika Mercer

While Spoon has been busy stripping down to a sound that is spotlessly clean and decidedly minimalist, their music has been growing and advancing exponentially with the release of each album. They have reached an all-time high with their most recent release, "Kill the Moonlight," which explodes like an all-shook-up can of Coke and is guaranteed to quench your thirst just as well.
Hailing from Austin, Texas, Spoon formed in 1992 as a collaboration between vocalist and guitarist Britt Daniel, and drummer Jim Eno. They played musical chairs with a party of bassists until handing the goody bag (a few munchies and a permanent place in the band) over to Andy Maguire.
Their first release, "Telephono" (1996), followed by their "Soft Effects EP" in 1997, opened a few ears to their emerging musical genius, but it wasn't until 1998, when the band released their second full-length album, "Series of Sneaks," that people really started tuning in. The moderate critical success of this album, though, coincided with a recording fiasco: Only months after the major label debut of "Sneaks," Elektra Records abruptly dropped Spoon from its contract.
Voted off the island and bitter about it, Spoon sought its revenge through "The Agony of Laffitte EP" (1999), a two song release dealing with being dropped and getting back at the A&R guy, Ron Laffitte, who did the dropping.
After "Agony," Spoon released a handful of seven inch singles until landing a record deal in 2000 with Merge Records, under which they soon released their third EP, "Love Ways," that same year.
This record deal and release were more than enough to get Spoon back on their feet: in 2001 they recorded "Girls Can Tell," their third full-length CD and a tremendous success, appearing at the top of many best of 2001 lists. Critics lauded Daniel for "possessing one of the sexiest voices in modern rock," and effectively using influences from Nirvana to Elvis Costello and Sonic Youth to create the band's unique, genre-crossing sound.
The praise has grown even louder with the recent 2002 release, "Kill the Moonlight," Spoon's fourth CD. Although still unmistakably Spoon, "Moonlight" is more musically daring, more willing to take chances than any of their previous albums.
Keeping with their mid-tempo post-punk and methodical melody as the core, Spoon experiments with new sounds and the minimalization of old sounds. Guitars no longer appear on every song — pianos, handclaps, breathing, horns and string samples take their place. This artsy approach gives the music a barer, more barren feel, an austere atmosphere reinforced by Daniel's smooth, detached voice.
But this minimalism is anything but simple; through the stripping down of sound, Spoon creates a mass of tension-filled space. What has been stripped away starkly exposes what has remained: each sound and instrument rings with full force, resulting in a spooky, offbeat and — given the surprisingly sing-able melodies — really fun listen.
"Moonlight" opens with the song "Small Stakes," a perfect introduction to Spoon's increasingly simple approach to creating complex sounds.
It uses repetition relentlessly — the background beat and drone of "Small Stakes," as with all of Spoon's songs, is like a pounding headache that won't go away. Daniel's voice is the aspirin that coats this headache, suppresses it under a smooth layer and makes it but a distant memory.
The next song, "The Way We Get By," is completely different jazzy, upbeat and piano based. "The Way We Get By" is a preview to the eclecticism of the entire album and to Spoon's creative exploration and combination of many genres, from punk to jazz to funk. Spoon throws caution to the wind and embraces any type of music that is sure to enrich their own sound.
This fearlessness pays off: "Kill the Moonlight" is bold, explosive and absolutely brilliant. It is an album that gets better with every listen and that, through its minimalism, creates an endless possibility for listening to and appreciating the tension created between what is actually heard and what is inferred in the music.

Spoon will be touring, promoting this latest release, primarily along the West Coast in the near future with a slew of interesting companions, including Crooked Fingers, The Oranges and The Young People. If you find yourself in San Diego or Tucson, Ariz. over fall break, keep your ears and eyes open for the fresh new sound of Spoon.
Britt Daniel will perform independently at the Knitting Factory in New York on Nov. 2.
For listening samples, merchandise and the latest news, visit Spoon's Web site: www.spoontheband.com.