May 11, 2005
Aiming to Break Out of the Low-Indie Strata
By BEN SISARIO
The New York times
AUSTIN, Tex. - In a creaky old farmhouse on the flat, dusty outskirts of this city, a film crew of about 20 buzzed around, lugging equipment up and down a narrow staircase and communicating on walkie-talkies. It was a one-day video shoot for the band Spoon, and time was running out.
As a model in a black bathing suit and high heels scampered up the stairs for her scene, Britt Daniel, the band's singer and songwriter, sat patiently in a side hallway, leafing through an ancient copy of a local newspaper. The theme of the video, as the band and crew understood it, had something to do with sexy, disembodied legs chasing the band around.
"I don't understand what it's about," Mr. Daniel said of the video, with a shrug. "We got lots of treatments for this video. This one I didn't understand. And if I couldn't understand it, I couldn't understand what was wrong with it."
The video is for "I Turn My Camera On," the first single from Spoon's fifth album, "Gimme Fiction" [released by Merge Records on May 10]. It could be a big moment for Spoon, which has become one of the most acclaimed bands in indie rock, playing tightly wound, enigmatic songs stripped to their essence; you must hear them again and again to figure them out.
The band's label and management are hoping for a significant growth in sales. Merge, a small label with a remarkable track record of cultivating indie hits, has stepped up its usual promotion campaign, spending more on retail placement and hiring a stylish Los Angeles photographer, Autumn de Wilde, who has shot Beck and Elliott Smith, for the video. In April, right after filming the video, Spoon took an opening slot on a big European tour, with the band Interpol, at its own expense.
Spoon's last two albums, "Girls Can Tell" and "Kill the Moonlight," both released by Merge, sold in the 60,000 to 90,000 copy range, and Merge is hoping for at least double that figure for "Gimme Fiction." The band is planning an American tour that will take it to Webster Hall, one of the biggest clubs in New York, on June 8 and 9. But the person least excited about a sales breakthrough may be Mr. Daniel.
"I think I've been conditioned not to think that way," he said. "Every time I've had expectations, I ended up being disappointed."
In 1998, Spoon became a major-label horror story. Courted by Elektra Records, the band was signed to the label and released its second album, "A Series of Sneaks," only to be dropped unceremoniously a few months later. The band retaliated by issuing, on an independent label, a vituperative two-song "concept single" ridiculing former Elektra executives.
The stunt got Spoon some notice, but few fans and critics were prepared for the band's next step. After extensive studio work and long delays, the band released its creative breakthrough, "Girls Can Tell," on Merge in 2001. Sleek and subdued, it recalled early Elvis Costello and even Motown, a mix of minimalistic tension and soulful release.
"Elektra loosened us up," Mr. Daniel said of the songs he wrote for the album. "For the first time lyrics were coming naturally and meant something instead of being intentionally obtuse. It was like I had been hiding behind cool. I never would have owned up to vulnerabilities before 'Girls Can Tell'."
"Gimme Fiction" has the strongest lineup of potential hits of any Spoon album so far. "I Turn My Camera On" is a funk song on tiptoes, "Sister Jack" is a clap-along alt-rock anthem and "I Summon You" is a yearning acoustic confession. And in songs like "The Two Sides of Monsieur Valentine," Mr. Daniel indulges in his signature songwriting technique, marrying irresistibly memorable pop melodies to oblique lyrics, like: "Every morning I've got a new chance/ I wanna play the part of Eddie in The Stranger Dance/ He makes love to the duke/ He swordfights the queen."
Mr. Daniel's penchant for wordplay is reinforced by his working method. An obsessive redactor, he whittles his songs down note by note and line by line. For "Gimme Fiction," he spent months in the studio with his longtime drummer and co-producer, Jim Eno (Mr. Daniel played most of the other instruments on the album).
"Nothing is there that shouldn't be there," he said.
When the recording was finished, a number of labels expressed interest in releasing it, Mr. Daniel said, but the band stuck with Merge, which offers them creative freedom and has had success with other idiosyncratic bands. Last year's indie sensation, the Arcade Fire, has sold more than 140,000 copies of its debut album, released by Merge. Six years ago, the label released "69 Love Songs," an epochal triple album by the Magnetic Fields that established the songwriter Stephin Merritt as a premier pop classicist. About 150,000 copies of the album have been sold.
Before the video shoot, while waiting to order at Ruby's BBQ in downtown Austin, Mr. Daniel was stopped by a fan, a curly haired man who looked to be in his early 20's.
"Dude, 'Gimme Fiction' is awesome!" the fan exclaimed. "I can't wait for May 10!"
Mr. Daniel thanked him, and remarked that the album had been leaked on the Internet. Then, turning back to the fan, almost as an afterthought, he asked, "You're going to buy it, right?"
The fan replied, "I'm going to buy like five copies!"
<img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/05/11/arts/11spoo.jpg" alt=" - " />
Spoon, from left, Josh Zarbo, Jim Eno, Britt Daniel and Eric Harvey.
