6. Transference (2010)

If previous Spoon records were exercises in minimalism, Transference sounds virtually cannibalized. An about-face from the comparatively magisterial Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, the songs on Transference sound like cleaned-up outtakes and demos from that record, despite appearing three years later. Britt Daniel described the record upon release as ‘uglier’ than its predecessors, and sonically speaking, he’s on the money. Though the spontaneous feel of the record is always engaging (this is a record you will keep returning to, whether you like it or not), it is, in many ways, a ‘grower’ record that doesn’t grow. Throughout the album, extended instrumental sections seem to jam on endlessly, while fragments gradually expand, retract and morph microscopically like the headiest home-listening techno. Minimal techno, however, is hardly the only non-rock influence on Transference: the playfully abrupt vocal cuts on “Is Love Forever?” and “The Mystery Zone” are pure dub, while “Who Makes Your Money” bears a striking similarity to, of all things, A Tribe Called Quest’s “Award Tour” If the entire record was made up of moments like these, Transference would rate higher in the Spoon discography, but several lesser tunes on the album are pretty tough going. “Trouble Comes Running” sounds like something the notoriously edit-shy Robert Pollard might have left on the cutting room floor; “Goodnight Laura,” a piano ballad complete with strings, sounds very much at odds with Spoon’s studied detachment; and both opening and closing tracks seem arbitrary, unfocused and unfinished. First single “Got Nuffin” is the sort of straight rocker that, by this point in their career, Spoon could compose during soundcheck. Though Transference is not without its moments, the oversaturated William Eggleston photo of a child looking restless and bored seems well chosen as cover art for a record that feels so purgatorial and transitive.