With his sixth album, I Can’t Keep All of Our Secrets, Calgarian Rae Spoon mixes the folk-pop songwriting sensibilities he’s known for with the sounds of modern electronic music — a style integration that has its ups and downs.
Spoon’s vulnerable vocal performances fit in well with the spacey electronic backdrop, and nearly every chorus on the album has the potential to become stuck in your head for weeks after only a single listen. The album works as a whole, but problems start to arise when the focus is shifted to individual songs. The tempo and style of production on each track is nearly identical, and as a result songs tend to fade into one another. There are a few tracks that manage to stand out due to their exceptionally strong melodies, but many songs fail to be interesting.
I Can’t Keep All of Our Secrets brings to mind albums like Tegan and Sara’s 2009 release Sainthood — both works saw artists primarily known for indie folk/rock experimenting with electronic music. Unfortunately, Spoon doesn’t approach the genre with the same amount of energy and creativity. Ultimately, great songwriting is weighed down by repetitive production, leaving the listener wondering if dabbling in electronica is a step in the wrong direction for Spoon.