(Album Review) Spoon’s highly anticipated ‘Transference’ disappoints By Andrew Shilling, Staff Writer

Spoon has made itself at home in the indie-grunge scene for nearly 15 years. Their new album “Transference” basically sticks to the script. It’s raw, gritty and rocking and while their alternative foundation is still intact, the creative mood has changed.

On the Austin-based group’s previous album, songwriter and front man Brit Daniel, sang of cigarette cases and cherry bombs. “Transference” is an all-together different experience. Daniel instead sings about love and broken relationships. The album comes highly anticipated by Spoon fans, however it doesn’t have the driving intensity that their 2007 masterpiece “Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga” had. It will probably leave listeners feeling slightly unimpressed.

The album simply doesn’t stand on its own. It gets noticeably mundane somewhere in between the oddly titled, “The Mystery Zone” and “Got Nuffin.” “Written in Reverse,” which the band preformed on the Conan O’Brien show last week, is probably the highlight of the album.

With track titles like “Is Love Forever?” and “Nobody Gets Me But You,” one has to wonder if the band was using sarcasm in their song titling or if they’ve just lost their edge.

This is not to say that “Transference” is a failure by any means. It is still a decent rock album that diehard fans will likely enjoy. Unfortunately, at times, it comes across over-produced and sloppy.

Grade: C

Download (don’t steal): “Before Destruction” by Spoon