They Want My Soul
A brilliant collision of Spoon's signature rhythmic precision and Dave Fridmann's blown-out, psychedelic production. Warm, cosmic, and incredibly sharp.
A brilliant collision of Spoon's signature rhythmic precision and Dave Fridmann's blown-out, psychedelic production. Warm, cosmic, and incredibly sharp.
Cosmic expansion
A dry snare cracks through a haze of shimmering keyboards, pulling a lean, rhythmic swagger into focus. This is a sound caught between tight, physical grooves and a strange, cosmic warmth that bleeds at the edges. The guitars are sharp and clipped, but the air around them feels heavy, saturated, and slightly blown out. You are listening to a band finding a looser, weirder kind of confidence, trading their usual minimalist chill for something that glows in the dark.
The band trades their usual nervous tension for a swaggering, late-night confident stride that anchors the record in a cool, unflappable groove.
Widely praised for its polished production and vibrant energy, the album was warmly received by critics who admired how it expands the band's signature style into a more eclectic, larger-scale direction. Reviewers celebrated the crisp songwriting and cool, inviting atmosphere, noting that the group beautifully refines their distinct sound with a focused yet expansive presence.
“Clearly, those searching for something new are better off looking elsewhere. But if it’s dependable melodies and soaring choruses you’re after, then They Want My Soul is an album you can count on”Read review
“It promises much but never quite delivers”Read review
“The band’s dependable grasp of instantly joyous hooks still shows no sign of deserting them”Read review
“Soul achieves the nearly impossible with Spoon’s most eclectic set yet”Read review
“It’s another strong record from the band, one that pushes forward in interesting ways while still staying rooted in Spoon’s signature sound”Read review
“Spoon have always done surprisingly well on their own terms, in their own world. And that world sounds bigger and brighter than ever”Read review
“Flits from piano-lead stomp (‘Rainy Taxi’) to reflective organ-flecked peons (‘Outlier’) almost on a whim”Read review
“Throughout They Want My Soul, the songs flow into and out of each other with a subtle movement that’s hypnotic and sounds deceptively simple”Read review
“The quintet’s most booming LP, eons ahead of their Pixies-worshipping beginnings and a far cry from the relatively small-scale charm of their early-2000s touchstones Girls Can Tell and Kill the Moonlight”Read review
“The production builds a rich emotional topography for the songs”Read review
“More of a welcome return than a comeback, and too complex to be considered back-to-basics - especially when they reinvent the basics on each album”Read review
“A bold and swaggering declaration that Spoon have undoubtedly still got it — in spades”
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