’Hot Thoughts’, Spoon’s 9th album, is the bravest, most sonically inventive work of their career, though keep in mind, Britt Daniel’s already overseen a number of other reincarnations. With all due respect to earlier efforts that have made the quintet both critically acclaimed and a commercial contender, preconceptions about this band are about to be obliterated. That’s not to say ‘Hot Thoughts’ doesn’t have a requisite supply of infectious earworms but there’s a lyrical bent that’s as carnal as it’s crafty, and a newfound sense of sonic exploration that results in the genre-smasher Spoon have flirted with in the past but not fully consummated. Produced by Dave Fridmann (Tame Impala, The Flaming Lips, Weezer, MGMT) and back with Matador (third time’s the charm) helps position Spoon to mount the highest highs of their already spectacular career. We are overjoyed to be back in the Spoon business and in time for Daniel’s spot in the pantheon of rock’s genius songwriters was well established a ways back — with the crackling, incandescent, multi-dimensional backdrop conjured on ‘Hot Thoughts’, the lines between accessible and experimental become non-factors for once and all. It’s pop as high art, delivered with total confidence and focus.