Jim Eno Talks Spoon’s Interesting New Sound

With nine albums in the bag, Texan favourites Spoon continue to push the boundaries and deliver refreshing new material. As their highly anticipated new album, Hot Thoughts, and an Aussie tour looms on the horizon, Steve Bell catches up with drummer Jim Eno.

Hot Thoughts as an album takes the band's sound into some new and interesting places, was that an intentional quest or more natural evolution?

A little of both. We didn't specifically talk about it but the sound and mood of the song Inside Out feels like a jumping off point for this record. In that respect, it feels like a natural evolution. But we were always on a quest to find new sounds and sonic landscapes, so that was more of an intentional quest.

The great Dave Fridmann reprises his co-production role from 2014's The Want My Soul, what did he bring to the table this time around?

Dave is a great producer and an amazing engineer and mixer. He brought a lot of interesting ideas to the record and was the comforting and guiding force throughout the recording process.

The titular lead single is a notably dancy affair, do you like it when things heat up on the dance floor at Spoon gigs? Have the new songs translated well in the live realm? 

It's way more fun to play shows when the crowd is excited and into the songs. We have only had a couple of shows so far but the new songs are translating well live.

You're playing a hometown residency during SxSW in Austin in a couple of weeks, tell us about the line-ups you're curating and what you're looking forward to at South By. 

We picked 15 bands to play with us over three days. Bands like A Giant Dog, Sweet Spirit, Bright Light Social Hour, Walker Lukens and a bunch of others. It's going to be wild.

You've been coming Down Under at regular intervals for years now, does any place or anything in Australia ever remind you of Texas?

We love coming to Australia. It's one of our favourite places to play. If I had to think of any similarities it would maybe be the friendly people or the love of beer.

Hot Thoughts drops next Friday, March 17, via Matador Records/Remote Control Records before Spoon play headline shows in Sydney and Melbourne at the end of the month.

Check out theGuide for ticketing and other info. You can pre-order the new album here.