Of all the new releases lately, one album seems to be flying under the radar. Spoon released their new album “Hot Thoughts” last month and it’s what anybody who’s heard of the band would want.

            With this album, Spoon showed their maturity as a band. Spoon’s first album was released over 20 years ago, with founding members Britt Daniel, the band’s vocalist, keyboardist and guitarist, and Jim Eno, the band’s drummer, being in the group since the year 1993.

            Anyone who enjoys the rock genres can appreciate a band’s comfortability with their sound- and that’s what Spoon does with surgical precision with this release. The songs flow together with ease and the tracks sound like a listener could name the band if they were familiar enough.

            The thing that really stands out on this album is the drumming and the addition of electronic layers. Jim Eno’s drumming is sometimes absent throughout the tracks, but just as you notice it’s not there, you get hit with a minimalistic drum beat that makes you glad you waited.

The electronic layers in the track are used sparingly, but add a certain texture to the overall sound of the album. If they had left out the addition of the electronic layers then this album wouldn’t even be worth writing about.

“The thing that’s so cool about it- they’re always changing things,” said John Barone, a senior music major at Castleton. “When throwing new elements into the production, it never becomes clustered or overbearing.”

The album got raving reviews in both Rolling Stone and Pitchfork that almost completely cover the album. The one glaring problem with this album that nobody seems to be writing about is the ending. The second half of the album switches things up initially for variation, but it makes the album lose momentum as it concludes. It almost seems as though the first half of the album by itself would sound more complete.

With all of that being said, this album is a must for anyone who appreciates the complexities of music. The way Spoon plays with their sound, the way the drums tie everything together with such restraint and especially the production of the electronic features of the album compliments the band’s sound makes it one of the best albums to come out in the past year.