Plaid’s release of “Double Figure” was akin to seeing IDM going the way of “Sgt. Peppers'” over-the-top studio additives. Thus, the last thing you’d expect of Plaid would be to strip it all down, but “Spokes” is, in spirit, their “acoustic” album. There’s a little ’80s bass in places, but for the most part, it’s just bare-to-the-bones melodicism with introspective touches.
This article appears in Sep 24-30, 2003.