Spoon Tells a Compelling "Inside" Story

Time to belly up to the locals only bar. Spoon has returned to whack some sense into your eardrums. "Inside Out" epitomizes what a panoramic musical experience is all about. Up close and personal so much about the song gives off golden light. Affirmative adjectives don't do Rob Pope nearly enough justice. You'd have a tune of far less heft were you to strip bass from the mix. There's a little funk punch he throws in for good measure. Fantasy elements don't fall far from this catchy number. For Spoon playing keyboards comes to resemble a triple team undertaking. Eric Harvey and Alex Fischel join in on the fun too. You'd swear it's rising from a firmly grounded place at the Earth's core. Meditation retreats were made for this light stepping tickling of keys. Time's warped ways get featured billing. Maybe that's why "Inside Out" sounds like the "sleepy dreaming" haze Tears For Fears alluded to in "Break It Down Again". "Inside Out" sleepwalks but in a highly quaint fashion. How else could you manage to successfully construct a bass/keyboard sandwich high on the delectable scale. Singer Britt Daniels constitutes the most vital element going and even he stands before us the walking poster boy for not going crazy with the sleep promoting medication. Gravity, a prime indicator of time's ravages gets moved upfront right off the bat. Who has time for holy rollers? Definitely not Britt. He's got a life to chase down. Then again who doesn't. Britt reminds us time keeps on going when we have nothing else to give. Too sad but too true. The sobering aspect is we don't even know when we've reached nothing else to give status. Perhaps we won't make it to that juncture at all. Shrouded in mystery but light on clarity. Melodically "Inside Out" has a demeanor too at peace to draw comparisons to mood altering drug use. However the zippiest notes in the tune could have you scratching your heads pondering how to get your hands on the choice weed Britt commits to his system in the name of authentic artistic direction. How rapturous it would be lying face up in a country field somewhere when suddenly "Inside Out" pops down from the speaker in the sky. Daisies lurch upward around you. A steady rain benevolent in its quest to calm you steadily cascades down. There you have it. That's an ideal natural cleanser to go with the chemical stimulation. Let's suppose field poetry's not for you. In that case you'd not go wrong sitting Indian style at the heart of a meditation garden and allowing audio refreshment to act as salve for your various broken places, places that the eel slippery time supposedly heals somewhere along the way. I tip my bowler hat to the Austin collective for stirring meaty ingredients in its stew, the result being an oven fresh palate satiating delight that wins over both the earth tone and fantasy adventure crowds. Spoon merits its critical accolades as well as its fan base. "Inside Out" hits the mark with a commitment to saluting its quirkiness. You can bet it's earned the inside track to repeated go rounds on any rock programmer's playlist.