Spoon - Kill the Moonlight

Ok, let's get down to brass tacks. No holds barred, damn you all, I don't care what my friends say. I don't like this band. I have finally put my foot down on this fact, after years of waffling. Their first album sounded like a pale imitation of the Pixies. A Series of Sneaks rocked a bit, but had no meat. Girls Can Tell had a couple of great tracks on it ("Believing Is Art" does kick my ass), but by the time the whole thing was over, it left me cold. I had great hope for this new record: will Spoon deliver on the promise it has been holding out since the beginning, that they will grow and develop into a really great band, a band with something truly new and interesting and captivating to say? The answer arrives in the form of a big fat no.

Kill the Moonlight is so formless as to barely be there at all, offering little in the way of hook, less in the way of lyrics, and nothing whatsoever in the way of ass-kicking. Track after track meanders on, never finding its center, never exploding into the rock and roll ecstacy that the band always seems capable of, but never quite delivers. It's frustrating, really. "Small Stakes" seems to boil with tension, but never releases it, and about two minutes in, you realize this, and it gets terribly repetitive. "Stay Don't Go" has a tantalizing little heavy-breathing thing happening in the background, but in the end leaves you wondering what exactly that guy has to be breathing heavy over. The most exciting instrument in the song turns out to be a tambourine. The best track is this catchy little piano-fueled number called "That's the Way We Get By." It's a funny song. Apparently their way of getting by involves a lot of drugs and theft. But if this is the best that Spoon has to offer, and after all this wait I'm convinced that it is, I don't need it.

Article Author: Kenan Hebert

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