Intended as a stylistic departure from the band's previous work, Girls Can Tell features classic rock and new wave influences absent on their major label albums.

After the band was dropped from their major record deal with Elektra in August 1998, Spoon finished the first version of Girls Can Tell in May 1999 with ten songs.

The second version reworked "Anything You Want" and "Take a Walk", removed the band's spurned songs about their Elektra A&R rep, and added "Everything Hits at Once", "Believing Is Art", and "10:20 AM".

[5] After writing more songs, Daniel and producer Mike McCarthy returned to Austin and began working on a new album in Eno's garage studio.

He explained: Girls Can Tell was the Hail Mary pass that absolutely no one thought was gonna find a receiver.

Pitchfork's Nick Mirov said of the album "It's a great thing, hearing a band grow up without losing sight of what made them so vital in the first place; and seeing as how Girls Can Tell might not have ever seen the light of day, it makes it even better.