Pitchfork

RJD2 wasn't kidding about changing directions. He's completed mixing his new album for XL, due out March 6 and listed as being titled The Third Hand on his MySpace page, and this is the first peek for the public. The opening of the track sounds like it was recorded in one of Mario's cloud levels, and the rest of it is all carefully downstroked guitar and mannered piano that sees Spoon's Kill the Moonlight at family reunions. RJ has used these elements before, but he's never been more deliberate about making them fit into a pop framework. In fact, too much deliberation might be the song's fault: it's recorded beautifully, but it feels a little stiff.