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Built to Spill Back in Top Form

Formerly great indie rockers make a triumphant comeback in There Is No Enemy

By Evann Gastaldo, Newser Staff

Posted Oct 5, 2009 5:52 PM CDT

(Newser) – Built to Spill went from producing “some of the most ambitious and resonant indie rock ever made” in the 1990s to “merely existing” in the 2000s. With its "unexpectedly terrific” new release There Is No Enemy, the band offers “an improbable late-career reawakening and heartening evidence that becoming dependable doesn't mean having to settle for being predictable,” writes Jayson Greene for Pitchfork.

Enemy contains the same familiar “pinwheeling guitar fantasias, ambling tempos, and wayward vocal lines” as previous efforts, but it also shows a long-missing sense of urgency. “For the first time in almost 10 years, it seems that” frontman Doug Martsch “might actually have something he wants to say.” On Enemy, his “devastating” lyrics ring “with powerful truth”—and cause “very real goosebumps.”

[Images (2)]

[Quotes (2)]

Built to Spill is shown in an image from MySpace. (MySpace)

The cover of Built to Spill's new album is shown. (Amazon.com)

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The end result is easily the best Built to Spill album of the decade. - Jayson Greene

In this context, even their well-worn and comfortable indie jamming feels revitalized. - Jayson Greene

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Built to Spill Back in Top Form