More about: Spoon

When you get to ten albums together as a band you must certainly wonder if you still have it. Some bands just keep turning out what fans expect of them...or else turgidly throw out greatest hits to keep the money flowing in. Nineteen-nineties and 2000s alt-rock outfit Spoon manage to buck the trend here, mainly by sticking a middle finger up to expectations. They take a detour on Lucifer on the Sofa, which manages to feel fresh while incorporating the Spoon style we all know and love.

With Lucifer On The Sofa, Spoon indulge in a rock’n’roll sound without dancing straight into cliché and manage to instil the spirit of the band into this new material, all while creating one of their best albums yet. Recorded in and out of lockdown in Austin, Texas, the band spent two years recording the album — hoping to achieve the raw feel of tearing up a packed venue. This is a huge contrast from their last album, Hot Thoughts, which felt more synthetic in its production with synths, drum machines and astral moods.

The band opens with a supremely confident cover of the song 'Held', originally written and performed by Smog. On any other record, this might sound strange, but it acts as a statement of intent and the direction of the record to come. The band sound all the better for creating something completely different this time around, the live feel of the record contrasting nicely against the sheen added during the production process. Some highlights here include 'The Hardest Cut' which has the spirit of a Queens of the Stone Age track (perhaps due to the presence of producer Mark Rankin) and remains the heaviest thing on here.

The track 'Wild' offers a pure anthemic guitar anthem that is designed to be sung back live, with its tight guitars and the 110% vocal performance Britt Daniel gives making it a sure-fire classic for the band.

'Astral Jacket' takes a left turn into ballad territory. It lets Spoon show their softer side away from the more traditional rock’n’roll elements that populate the rest of the record. The track 'Satellite' shifts gears once again: a piano rock banger that Elton John would happily call his own. If only the final track brought things to an epic conclusion: 'Lucifer On The Sofa' doesn’t change anything up from previous songs on the album and feels like an overlong conclusion to a superb reinvention by Britt Daniel and co.

The whole production of the record feels like an elegant cocktail. It has the energy of a live performance (the liquor of choice) while also managing to put a nice sheen on it to polish up the whole production (the mixer). The band wanted to make a record that drew from a scene (specifically Texas), and they have run with it. Returning home to Austin has allowed them to explore a diverse array of scenes the place has to offer, such as psychedelic punk, honky tonk, and much more.

Spoon has done it again, managing to upend expectations and remain one of the most consistent indie outfits still around today.

Lucifer On The Sofa arrives 11 February via Headz/Matador.

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More about: Spoon