the black angel's death song

Spoon's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga (2007).

“She made my heart soft, wore an aiguillette on her arm.”

If there’s a band in recent memory that’s made a better straight-up rock album than Spoon with Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, I haven’t heard it. The White Stripes and the Strokes may come to mind, but neither makes music that sounds anything like this. Spoon, an Austin band now on their sixth album, opens their latest with “Don’t Make Me a Target,” which is reminiscent of their earlier work while still doing a perfect job in setting up the brilliance to come. Next up is “The Ghost of You Lingers,” the most experimental track on the record, with Britt Daniels’ vocals finding their way around while an incessant keyboard plays on. The results, needless to say, are amazing; the lyrics, structured mostly as a series of short phrases, work beautifully (“I had a nightmare nothing could be put back together”). “You Got Yr Cherry Bomb” is among the loveliest tracks on the album, as well as the easiest to sink into, with Daniels sounding both heartbroken hopeful. “Don’t You Evah” is a cover of a Natural History song, but you wouldn’t know it from the band’s spot-on delivery and playfully aggressive lyrics (“Bet you got it all planned right/Bet you never worry never even feel a fright”); it’s now a Spoon song now, no doubt about it. Following the theme of misspelling certain words, “Rhthm and Soul” has both and plenty to spare. The next two songs are, for me, the highlight of the album. “Eddie’s Ragga” is simply one of the coolest tracks I’ve heard in a long long time. Jim Eno’s drumming is perfect, as is Rob Pope’s bassline, to say nothing of Daniel’s cheekily fragmented lyrics—“Someone that I knew but I hardly met/Told me, it’s hopeless I’m a slut for the New York Times.” “The Underdog” is likewise essentially perfect, but for somewhat different reasons. The song is most notable for its use of horns and some light percussion in the background. Also, the last minute or so of the track may be the best in the entire album. For some, “My Little Japanese Case” is the album’s only true error, but I think its singular sound adds plenty to the album’s unique texture. “Finer Feelings” is upbeat yet restrained, longing yet reserved. Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga closes with “Black Like Me,” which, along with a somewhat misleading title, also has some of the album’s softest melodies. And after 35 or so minutes of staggeringly luminous music, we couldn’t really ask for more.