Spoon: They Want My Soul

Spoon's 2010 album Transference was an oddball of an album. It seemed like a reaction to the easy catchiness of their previous effort, 2007's fantastic Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga. Transference zigged where you expected it to zag, and was full of unexpected stops and starts. It was well enough reviewed when it was initially released, but opinion seems to have turned on Transference since then, with many early reviews of Spoon's latest album, They Want My Soul, hailing it as a return to form for the band after a previous misstep. 
And while Transference wasn't bad, there's no denying that Soul takes after Ga Ga Go Ga Ga, with its catchy melodies and production sheen. There are plenty of similarities to be drawn between those two albums: they are mostly the same length (37 minutes vs. 36), the same number of songs (10), and once again Spoon displays the same knack for infectious songwriting.
The album kicks off with rocker "Rent I Pay," which comes out of the gate with a hard-hitting drumbeat courtesy of the great Jim Eno. It's followed by "Inside Out," which is full of empty space and seems content to just let its programmed beat and keyboards wash over you for five minutes. "Do You" is the obvious highlight, a song reminiscent of great Spoon singles of the past like "The Underdog" or" I Turn My Camera On" in its catchiness and in the immediate impact it makes on the listener.
And that's perhaps the most apt description for They Want My Soul: immediate. Following up an album that seemed almost a little too concerned with defying the expectations of the listener, Spoon has abandoned that approach for one that's closer to hitting the listener in the face and saying "hey look, a great Spoon song."
It's hard to believe Spoon has been doing this for nearly 20 years, and even harder to believe that, almost 20 years in, they've crafted one of their best albums to date. It's not quite Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga or Kill the Moonlight, but it certainly belongs in the discussion.
Grade: A