Divine Fits - A Thing Called Divine Fits

The moment this album, 'A Thing Called Divine Fits,' first came into my line of sight, I knew Britt Daniel of the band Spoon had to have something to do with it. Somewhere between the simplistic, iconic cover image of a cherry backed by the chartreuse-like (its more yellow than chartreuse) wash of color with the words "Divine Fits" in an Arial Black font slapped on top, to the continuous use of that sans serif font on the back for the song titles (minus spacing) to be displayed in a joyous, proud manner (which I've personally grown to love and expect from Britt Daniel records), I was in the midst of placing my bet that 'A Thing Called Divine Fits' was indeed the next Spoon record. This recently-introduced-fan of Wolf Parade was pleasantly surprised to learn that Divine Fits is actually a new band made up of Daniel, Dan Boeckner of Wolf Parade, Sam Brown of New Bomb Turks, and Alex Fischel.

This record was a present for me from my friend Colin, who is cronies with Craig Cully, the painter of this famed cherry that is now part of the ever growing imagery that represents Britt Daniel's musical recordings: girl with camera - 'Nefarious (EP),' man with sunglasses - 'Telephone,' vinyl record - 'Girls Can Tell,' arms - 'Kill The Moonlight,' red hooded cape - 'Gimme Fiction,' text only - 'Got Nuffin,' etc.. Craig was kind enough to sign this copy for Colin to give to me; pretty stoked!

'A Thing Called Divine Fits' is loaded with those übercatchy pop hooks that Daniel often brings to his Spoon records. But it wasn't until track-3, "What Gets You Alone," when Boeckner delivered the opening line, "Jessica please, take out insurance on me," that I was truly hooked on this album. Is it just me, or did anyone else catch the (possibly intentional) homage to Fugazi's "Dear Justice Letter" with this lyric? My mind went wandering with wonder at first; I completely missed the song and had to reset the needle to get back on track with enjoying the music.

"The Salton Sea" led by Daniel is the most entrancing song on this debut album for Divine Fits. With its echoing synthesizers pulling you in through their bouncing beats, you begin to dream that the brilliance of this record could possibly be Divine Fits extending this song until, let's say 'infinity,' so you never have to wake from this dreamscape. However, like any good pop-song-composer, Daniel knows to cut it short and leave you wanting more; well played.

Side-b continues to deliver additional gems for fans of Divine Fits' origins: "Civilian Stripes, "Like Ice Cream," and the pulsating, dreamy (pun intended) "Neopolitans." For me, I continue to respect Daniel's accessible approach to his music / art / design. Six tracks for side-a, five for side-b, and only one vinyl record required for this fun LP; traditional in form, with lyrics and liner notes printed on the inside jacket (no additional inserts needed). I like it. Although, following a critique from another design-focused-fan, I can't help by wonder if Daniel had someone else design the center labels on the vinyl record itself.