After reaching the top 10 of Billboard with 2007's Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, and selling out mid-sized venues at breakneck speed, Spoon faced a quagmire many bands face: by what standard is one of the decade's most beloved indie pop bands not in the mainstream anymore? Though still signed to independent Merge, Spoon has one of the largest American followings of any new band of the past 15 years.

Perhaps that culture shock is why it has taken nearly three years for Spoon to devise a follow-up, and frontman Britt Daniel told Spinner that Transference will be an "uglier" record closer to the band's demo recordings, which means rawere production and less complexity. There may not be anything as complex as, "The Underdog" and "You Got Yr Cherry Bomb," but the band had already been signed and kicked off a major label before they started getting more complex anyway.