Spiritualized

Jason Pierce's two-decade career as a member of Spacemen 3 and absolute dictator of Spiritualized's ever-revolving cast have left the man a strange combination of musical master and utterly exhausted man-child. As a producer he almost always impresses: choirs, strings, and horns, but he is equally adept with spacey guitar and keyboard effects, and here there are endless variations on grittier, distorted sounds, often working in tandem with the sweeter elements. The problem with much of Songs in A & E is the lyrics. Pierce continues to plunder ages-old rock, blues, and soul tropes, but is no longer able to twist them into nakedly touching—much less incisive—statements, cleverness and emotional clarity both having been lost somewhere along the way since 2003's Amazing Grace. A nearly fatal bout of pneumonia a couple years back has certainly left an impression on him, contributing to the album's most lyrically focused song (and its lost in translation album title—A & E is the British equivalent to Intensive Care Unit), "Death Take Your Fiddle", in which he seems to be admitting that nothing seems to reach him the same way anymore.

Musically, the album follows his increasingly familiar template of alternating sentimental, even mournful, ballads with calculatedly crass, Stooges-simple rockers. Fortunately most of them are catchy, and the quality and ingenuity of the sounds are simply a pleasure, from the smeary sonar blips that open the aforementioned "Death…" to blasts of guitar distortion faded almost poignantly in "Soul on Fire", and others so far in-the-red you expect it to come dripping out of your ears, as on fully committed rocker, "You Lie, You Cheat". Even the Dylan-aping "Baby I'm Just a Fool" is freshened by a bright vibraphone, and a jammy, but persuasive, coda climaxing in a flute tone so alien you could almost mistake it for pure feedback. Spiritualized still achieves transcendence here and there, but the promised land is getting hazier and hazier.

—Nathan Cunningham
06.02.08

Who would have thought that Jason Pierce's Spiritualized would have had any life in them after the rather uninspiring Amazing Grace in 2003? In the intervening five years, Pierce nearly died from double pneumonia. Near death experiences by their very nature are life-changing events. The music on Songs in A&E were recorded in that aftermath, but most of the album was written two years before he got sick; with so much of it about near death and survival, it feels like life imitating art. From the first notes of "Sweet Talk," it's obvious that a very different Spiritualized is up and about; an acoustic guitar, a sparse drum kit, the voice quartet, a few horns, and a minimal bassline fuel it. Pierce sweetly croons to a loved one in waltz time; his words are simultaneously appeasing and accusatory. The gospel chorus isn't as overblown as it was on Amazing Grace or Let It Come Down. They are in a support role, offering Pierce's reedy voice a fullness and authority it wouldn't have otherwise. The arrangement is lilting but powerful. How strange, then, the sounds of a ventilator that usher in the next track "Death Take Your Fiddle": "I think I'll drink myself into a coma/And I'll take every way out I can find/But morphine, codeine, Whisky, they won't alter/The way I feel/Now death is not around..."Death take your fiddle"/And play a song for me." Minor-key acoustic guitar and ghostly bass frame Pierce singing a mutant folk-blues that evokes Gary Davis' "Death Don't Have No Mercy." The backing vocals float wordlessly like death angels, hovering around the vocalist and giving the tune an otherworldly quality. But this isn't a song about dying; it's a song about coming close and cheating it; it's eerie. The proof? The next two tracks: "I Gotta Fire," and "Soul on Fire." The former is a taut, "Gimme Shelter"-esque rocker, the latter, a lush, uptempo love song. "Sitting on Fire" is a beautifully orchestrated love song: it's an admission of weakness and codependency but celebrates both of them at the same time: "Baby, I'm sitting on fire/but the flames put a hole in my heart/when we're together we stand so tall/But a part of me falls to the floor/Sets me free /I do believe it'll burn up in me for the rest of my life." Strings, vibes, marimbas, and drums crash in to the center of the mix carrying the protagonist into oblivion. "Yeah, Yeah" is a scorching rocker that feels like the Bad Seeds meeting the old Spacemen 3. "You Lie You Cheat," crashes in Velvets style with acoustic guitar and screeching feedback. The chorus sings atop a flailing drum kit, distorted strings, and wailing electric guitar. The marimbas and strings that power "Baby, I'm Just a Fool," sweetly underscore a very dark pop song, complete with "da-do-da-do-dat det-det-do's". It descends into beautifully textured chaos led by a loopy violin solo over seven minutes. Songs in A&E is the most consistent recording Spiritualized has issued since 1997's Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space. It contains the best elements of the band's signature sound, and paradoxically hedonistic yet utterly spiritual lyric themes. That said, newly focused energy, willfully restrained arrangements, and taut compositions give the set a sheer emotional power that no Spiritualized recording has ever displayed before, making it, quite possibly, their finest outing yet. ~ Thom Jurek, All Music Guide