Spoon: Wild EP

“Wild” is one of the many great tracks from Spoon’s 2022 album Lucifer on the Sofa, and was released as a 7” vinyl single in 2021 with a remix on the B-side by record producer and reggae guitarist Denis Bovell. That remix is included here on this four track “Wild” EP, along with the original album version, “Jack Wild” and “Trashy Wild”. It’s clearly an important song to the band (or record company) and was a hit on AAA radio, reaching the Top 15: there are three official videos of the song as well, a Western themed black and white film, a lyric video and live version (from The Teragram, Los Angeles).

The song was written in the first Covid-19 lockdown, and focusses on the conflict in living a “civilized” life in a wild environment; the abstract lyrics wander around the “trade winds” of a modern world as the narrator is surrounded by “trippers and askers”, confronted by advertising and lies. The original version starts with a rumbling beat reminiscent of Queen’s “Radio Ga Ga”, and builds from minimalism to a more expansive sound to ensure a sense of drama.

The original is recognisable on each remix. “Trashy Wild” is an early alternative version of the song, distinguished by its more noticeable rhythm. “Jack Wild”, remixed by producer and Bleachers lead singer Jack Antonoff, is also more percussive. The Denis Bovell remix is the longest and most ambitious, complete with what could be Tarzan and coyote howls, a doorbell, some ‘80s style reverb remix effects, and the sounds of (possibly) a monkey and a cuckoo. Indie purists will splutter in indignation, but it’s an amusing reconfiguration, and the EP is a worthwhile enterprise

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