Spoon - Girls Can Tell

For one thing, it’s got one of my favorite album covers of all time.

Girls Can Tell is Spoon’s first full-length LP since being dropped from Elektra after their major label debut, and their first LP for new label Merge. It’s got all of the hooks of their earlier work, along with solid song structures and stripped –down, circumspect arrangements that now include keyboards.

It’s also their best record so far, with the band regaining its stride by blending the arty, sing-along pop of Rubber Soul-era Beatles, Elvis Costello, and the Kinks, with a healthy dose of classic R&B and soul, and the more familiar Spoon sound of earlier records—heavy reverb post-punk that has drawn (not necessarily warranted) comparisons to 90’s alt- rock heavyweights the Pixies, Nirvana, and Mudhoney.

Britt Daniel has always been a hell of a songwriter, he plays a pretty mean guitar, and he’s got a unique vocal style that’s among my favorites. On Girls Can Tell he outdoes himself. The quality of the songwriting, plus the addition of keyboard textures make Girls Can Tell the most fully articulated batch of Spoon songs to date.

Best tracks: “Everything Hits at Once,” “Me and the Bean,” “Lines on the Suit,” “The Fitted Shirt,” “Take a Walk,” and “Take the Fifth.”

--Matt Parks