Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga
Spoon
Score:88
Reviewer: Justin Pearsall
Label: Merge (USA), Spunk (Australia), Anti- (Europe)
Reviewed: Jul 16th '07, Released:2007
The majority of Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is so hook-laden, simple and infectious that it is impossible to deny. Like WB writer Al Cottrill said about The Hold Steady’s Boys and Girls in America, “music should grab you from day one, from the first second” and so it is with Spoon’s latest release. There is no gestation period; no need to theorise, its lack of complication allows Spoon to truly sing.
There’s also a party vibe to Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga that gives it a vitality not heard consistently on past Spoon records. While tracks such as the mid-tempo‘Don’t Make Me a Target’ and the thick staccato of ‘The Ghost of You Lingers’ are important tracks for the album, making sure the serious side of the band is represented. It’s the ‘60’s pop vibe (think The Temptations) on numbers like ‘You Got Yr. Cherry Bomb’ and ‘Don’t You Evah’ that define Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga and make it so listenable and friendly to come back to.
The finest of these moments and the album’s undisputed key song is ‘The Underdog’. It’s a song fuelled by a horn line chorus, Golden Era-pop rhythm and atypically used handclaps – the beat far removed from the usual way the hands mimic the snare line. The song succeeds both as an immediate attention getter and as a mini-art form, its unique use of rhythm and the in-and-out existence of instruments, where guitars are stripped down and panned, the rhythm section appearing and disappearing, making it far more ambitious than a casual listen would suggest. It’s also one of the best songs in recent memory.
With Ga, Spoon use non-linear production methods to spice up what are essentially well-crafted, basic pop tunes. These little nuances ensure that Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga is not only immediately satisfying. It is also deep enough to sustain many encore performances. Spoon’s latest is also their best.
