Minimalism, thy name is Britt Daniel. The Spoon frontman, already so accomplished at the fine art of paring a song down to its skeleton, has found new ways of establishing understated elegance with his new project Divine Fits. He, Dan Boeckner, and Sam Brown populate the space on the record like fussy interior decorators, seeking an elusive feng shui with perfectly placed stabs of guitar, percussion, and electronics. While the end result is deceptively simple, this is the kind of craftsmanship that takes a ton of thought, and the construction of a song like arid synth banger “The Salton Sea” or the spare, acoustic “Civilian Stripes” needs to be strategized. On the latter track, a dusting of piano and tambourine represents a radical axis shift. There’s nowhere to hide mistakes here. Imagine the vocal percussion-engined “Like Ice Cream” as a white tablecloth. One errant stain spoils the whole thing.
Pre-order the album at divinefits.kungfustore.com.
By Tom Forget
This review appears in the Aug/Sept 2012 issue of BUST Magazine with cover girl Tavi Gevinson. Subscribe now.
