Will Schube is playing his part amazingly smart
It’s easy to dismiss Spoon’s latest single, “Do You”, as nothing more than the band continuing along a path any fan of the group’s discography would be familiar with: great single, great album…Rinse, lather repeat. I often fall into the trap of taking the Austin, Texas band for granted. However, tracks like “Do You” remind us just how phenomenal of a 20 year career the band has had. They’ve honed a formula and have relentlessly pounded it into the ground, which is OK considering the formula is constantly approaching flawlessness. Spoon’s real power lies in the band’s ability to churn out easily-digestible music at a machine-like clip, while simultaneously retaining an elusive edge that pushes them to the forefront of rock music.
“Do You” has the characteristic immediacy of a great Spoon track, from “My Mathematical Mind” to “I Turn My Camera On”, on to the early singles of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga: “You Got Yr Cherry Bomb” and “The Underdog.” Britt Daniel’s voice somehow retains an ambivalent yearning, both detached and immediate. “Do You” sounds playful and fresh, characteristics that were sorely missing from Spoon’s last album, 2010’s Transference (the closest thing to a misstep Spoon has ever produced). They seem to have rebounded just fine with “Do You”, a practically flawless track which finds Spoon once again reminding us that sturdy and consistent can also be cool.
