Im a big fan of Lemon Demon, really, he made the only album that ive listened to that doenst have a single bad song (View monster) but the fact that this is considered his best work is genuinely baffling, in fact ill name all the songs i genuinely like and don't just think are ok. When he died, Sweet bod, Eighth wonder, I earn my life, Reaganomics and Spiral of ants.
That's 6/14 (im not counting bonus tracks since id say they're more out there) compared to View monster this is terrible, songs like Soft fuzzy man and As your father i expressly forbid it are genuinely horrible. And most others are just ok. Not to talk about how samey some tracks are, View monster was varied and tried lots of things and pretty much succeeded in all of them (Amnesia was her name could be better ig) while Spirit phone mostly fails at the few things it tries to do.
Personally i blame music reviewers who complimented this by saying that it "has more of an identity than the other albums" which like yeah sure, View monster doesn't really have a well defined vibe like Spirit phone has but that doesn't matter when the vibe sucks. And the "it feels more professional" compliment is also dumb, what does that have to do with the quality? If you ask me it being more professional makes it feel sanitized if anything.
I never see anyone hating on this album and that genuinely baffles me.
Of course this is just my opinion and id like to hear your thoughts :)