Spoon’s last album, They Want My Soul from three years ago, saw the band somewhat double down on the catchiness factor – it’s something they’ve always done, but it seemed to be more prominent in that case. Their new album, on the other hand, could seem like a U-turn, but not really. Hot Thoughts can still be catchy, but it sounds like the understated sort of catchy. Blame it on a slight hip-hop influence (the cool kind), but more importantly, Britt Daniel and his troupe introduce a bunch of electronic layers, making the sounds feel like a slight meander rather than a more urgent affair. It’s not really a reaction but an evolution: once the record is done, and all the initial shock has worn off, you realize that the “messy” sound clicks together. Why they’d go for something this subtle at this point in their career is beyond me, though. [NB] | 3/5
