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The last time I wrote a Spoon biography, I suggested that perhaps they were the best band in Texas. That will be the last time I ever sell them short. While 2001's critically acclaimed 'Girls Can Tell' captured Spoon's Britt Daniel finding his own voice --- no, not literally going to lost and found, but truly coming into his own as a unique, world-class singer/songwriter, 2002's 'Kill The Moonlight' shows Daniel and long time musical conspirator Jim Eno, destroying the form book and branching into unchartered territory. Recorded in Eno's Austin studio throughout the winter/spring of 2002, Spoon's 4th album since 1996 is a staggering achievement, with stylistic range and emotional depth far beyond that of their prior works. Far less linear than 'Girls Can Tell', 'Kill The Moonlight' is as sonically advanced as it is lyrically daring; no longer rooted to a strict guitar-bass-drum format, Spoon's increased use of keyboards, self-created samples and implementation of studio effects is in start contrast to the more traditionalist GCT. That said, there is no killer gimmick at play, the weapon wielded most often is Britt Daniel's brain. Always a master of melody, Daniel has veered further and further from what could be identified as a signature sound with each Spoon album --- there are no precedents for Daniel's channelling of Alan Vega on the claustrophobic opener "Small Stakes", much as the falsetto vocal w/ minimalist backing of "Stay Don't Go" sounds like nothing else in the bands' oeuvre. But if there is a common thread running through each of Spoon's album's it is in the way their songs are instantly memorable and impossible to shake. "Jonathon Fisk" (perhaps the only song on 'Kill The Moonlight' that couldÕve been featured on Spoon's 1996 'Telephono'debut, though it wouldn't have sounded nearly as good), "Someone, Something"and "The Way We Get By" have all made for a very pleasant dilemma in record company offices in Chapel Hill and London --- how do you pick a single when youÕve got at least 3 great ones to choose from?

From year to year Spoon have built an impressive, fanatical international following. Despite some seriously lean years and harsh circumstances (innumerable exploding bass players, being banned from Wyoming until 2004, Daniel's recent brush with death via electrocution),the band have succeeded in creating their own musical vocabulary and their own creative identity. Whether their commercial success ('Girls Can Tell' sold more copies in 2001 than the band's combined back catalogue had managed in 5 years) continues to grow exponentially is far less relevant than what Daniel and Eno are producing in Jim's studio ;mind blowing, life affirming rock'n'roll records than are a match for any classic you care to name.

(biography from 2001's 'Girls Can Tell')

If I told you the best band in the state of Texas had neither a) bad afros or b) an improbably long name, would you believe it? If I insisted that the first important American album of 2001 virtually defined "americana" while being wholly unrepresentative of the so-called subgenre, would that make you feel better? I'm not trying to be blasphemous or anything.

The Austin, TX band Spoon are a rare example of a band whose artistic strengths have grown exponentially with each album, despite numerous lineup changes and record biz setbacks. With a name culled from the Can song, Spoon began playing and recording in 1993 as collaboration between vocalist/guitarist Britt Daniel and drummer Jim Eno. Through a series of critically acclaimed releases for the Matador, Elektra and Saddle Creek labels, Spoon have staked a claim as one of the U.S.'s most revered & respected independent bands, with Daniel in particular, an idiosyncratic author and voice to be reckoned with.

Older Spoon records, best typified by their criminally overlooked 1998 Elektra album A Series Of Sneaks, were equally informed & influenced by punk and pop; a nearly perfect dichotomy of tension versus release. The band's recent material leans closer to the traditional pop side of things, but is no less inventive or thoughtful. With the assistance of producer Mike McCarthy (And You Will Know Us By The Trail of Dead), Girls Can Tell is easily the most fully realized, ambitious recording of their young career, and showcases Daniel and Eno's stylistic range in ways their prior works only hinted at. There are moments that recall the haunting beauty of the Wipers' landmark Is This Real, others that are reminiscent of This Year's Model. And there are more than few other bits that sound nothing like either (John Bonham's ghost makes a nice cameo on the intro to "Fitted Shirt", for instance). In "Anything You Want", Britt Daniel has fashioned an unlikely combination of melancholia and exhilaration and ended up with a perfect summation of both --- in less than 3 minutes, too. Ultimately, the album is a crystalised version of what the band have been aiming for since their inception --- songwriting of instant classic quality, performances precise, yet impassioned. Timeless rock'n'roll that's funny, smart, sweet and sad in equal doses.