Review Summary: Random Spirit
Spencer Krug is one of those indie artists who flirted with a degree of stardom but has now purposefully (formally) retreated to the most cult of cult corners for close to a decade now. In that time, excluding a couple of reasonably well received Wolf Parade albums, he's been almost exclusively releasing music to entertain a small and loyal, maybe somewhat fanatical, group of listeners.
The releases under his own name so far have been eccentric and indulgent to say the least, although with 'I Just Drew This Knife' you do get the feeling he's dipping a toe back into more conventionally catchy and rocking waters. It has to be emphasised that this change is relative; the album still opens with the line 'I'm gonna get back...into sculpture', an opening gambit unlikely to be repeated on the next Def Leppard album.
These songs still ramble as has been the man's wont since the very beginning, but this time the production remains sparkly clean and inviting, plus there's usually a steady driving beat attempting to apply some form of forward progression. Krug's vocals are as strong (and divisive) as they ever were, though he's doomed to remain a more 'marmite' vocalist than say, even Dan Bejar. The varied and sometime experimental guitar work is often the biggest draw here, splashing colour over even the most skeletal or confounding of Krug's backdrops; through all the ups and downs of his career his work has always kept this sense of daring at the very least.
So if it's established he remains an acquired taste through and through, this is still almost certainly his most consistently intriguing release since the bizarre, and minotaur obsessed, 2018 concept album 'This One's for the Dancer & This One's for the Dancer's Bouquet' - and if he's patently not making too many compromises to court a new generation of listeners then at least this one might surprise a few people.
