Spoon: Hot Thoughts LP

Hot Thoughts is the bravest, most sonically inventive work of Spoon's trend setting career. With all due respect to earlier efforts which have made the quintet both critically acclaimed and a commercial contender, preconceptions about this band are about to be obliterated. That's not to say Hot Thoughts doesn't have a requisite supply of infectious earworms but there's a lyrical bent that's as carnal as it is crafty, and a newfound sense of sonic exploration that results in the genre smasher Spoon have flirted with in the past but not fully consummated.

Produced by Dave Fridmann and back with Matador (third time's the charm) helps position Spoon to mount the highest highs of their already spectacular career. Matador is overjoyed to be back in the Spoon business and in time for Britt Daniel's spot in the pantheon of rock's genius songwriters was well established way back – with the crackling, incandescent, multi-dimensional backdrop conjured on Hot Thoughts, the lines between accessible and experimental become non-factors for once and all. It's pop as high art, delivered with total confidence and focus.