On Spoon's newest record, they sometimes push guitars back to the front of the mix, kick out big 4/4 anthems, and lean on heavy rock piano, resulting in a brooding, anxious album — the most straightforward of their career.

Gimme Fiction is actually a wildly diverse album, almost schizophrenic in its composition, vacillating between acoustic ballads, a bubbly, synth-tinged number ("They Never Got You"), handclaps, strings, and a whole lot of blue-eyed soul. It feels like rock action only because the album's finest moments-- for the most part-- are in the sublime climaxes of guitar-driven tunes, notably the heart-swelling, tambourine-ringing relief of "Sister Jack" or the beautifully spare "I Summon You". But calling them "rock songs" feels like an oversimplification: The term implies a simplicity that just isn't present even in the most direct offerings on Gimme Fiction.

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Pitchfork (2005)
Spoon - Gimme Fiction Review (7.9)