Seven albums in and the Austin-based alt-rock quartet, Spoon, have a good thing going. Despite adjusting their personnel and signing onto the fledgling Merge Records after Elektra dropped the band in 1998, Spoon is finally on a roll.

Since releasing the acclaimed Gimme Fiction in 2005, Spoon has established an irresistible sound and a dedicated following. They manage to retain a unique, yet recognizable style that consistently pleases in an industry in which selling out has become commonplace. And if news of Spoon’s latest album, Transference, isn’t exciting enough, they will be playing in Chicago at The Aragon Ballroom on April 1st with opener Deerhunter.

On Transference, Spoon gets back to the basics and delivers one of their most stripped-down albums ever. The horn sections and audio samples that distinguished the band’s previous album, 2008’s Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga, are nowhere to be found on their new album. It’s as if Spoon locked themselves in a room with a few guitars, a piano and a small synth and came out with Transference.

Despite the album’s instrumental simplicity, it is by no means monochromatic: Jim Eno, the band’s drummer-producer subtly colors the album with vocal overdubs and bright guitar tones that give the album that dynamic Spoon sound. Although the minimalism that pervades Transference becomes a bit tenuous by the end of the album, the diversity of each song unquestionably compensates for this minor flaw.

Fans of Spoon have come to expect no less than a dynamic range of tracks on their albums, and Transference delivers. Within the confines of such a tightly produced album are chord repetitions and expansive crescendos that belie the self-contained quality of the album. Permeated by extended instrumental breaks, eerie synths and cosmic vocal effects, the first four tracks of Transference easily put you into a trance.

Shortly after, the punchy piano of the new single, “Written In Reverse,” should snap you right back. In the bridge of the song, frontman Britt Daniels croaks, “I’m not standing here!” and it is not hard to imagine why: he is probably stomping on the piano to deliver the song’s raucously pop-y riff. Other key tracks include the lullaby, “Goodnight Laura,” in which Daniels gives the rest of his band a break so he can sing you to sleep, and “Trouble Comes Running” with a guitar riff and drum line straight out of Television’s 1977 album Marquee Moon. (Television also signed to Elektra and ultimately switched labels as well.)

Lyrically, Daniels comes across as a novelty — as per usual — as he asks engaging questions as the substance of a few songs: “Is Love Forever?” and “Who Makes Your Money?” Teetering between emotive and nonsensical expressions — “I sold the world unto the world / It asked me back again” — Daniels’ songwriting is nothing short of intriguing on Transference. His delivery, which ranges from a fragile whisper to a raspy squawk further enriches the diversity of the album’s sound. On an album that revels in a stripped-down aesthetic, Spoon has conquered the restraints of minimalism with a dynamic liveliness.