It has been five years since the last Spiritualized album, Amazing Grace, and a lot has changed since those days. For starters Jason Pierce has completely reshaped his backing band, with only keyboardist Thighpaulsandra staying on board. The rest of the group is rounded out by guitarist Doggen, drummer Kevin Bales and bassist Martin Schellard, all of whom have worked with Julian Cope. Secondly, Pierce almost died in 2005,stricken with an extremely bizarre combination of severe pneumonia and a horrible eye infection. He spent a better part of a year on his back in the Accident and Emergencies ward (the A and E), from which this new album gets its name.
Like a hospital, the album teeters on the brink of desperation and death yet contains a lingering glimmer of hope. Pierce’s diary-like lyrics adds to the record’s overall appeal; inviting the listener along to experience his frustrations, hopes and fears. In some ways Amazing Grace was a short film full of startling, brilliant fragments, whereas Songs In A & E is a feature-length film with an overreaching message and theme.
The writing, singing and instrumentation can best be described in one word - naked. Pierce lays his soul bare and his vocals, which seem under constant strain, have a weakness and fragility that makes you weep openly for him. On "Death Take A Fiddle," the swirling and audible breaths haunt the background as if you can hear him struggling for life; Or in "Sitting On Fire," where it feels as if a mic was wheeled up to Pierce's hospital bed.
In contrast to such pessimistic attitudes are songs like "Soul On Fire," which crackle with life and hope. In the tune Pierce sings, "Set my soul on fire/I got two little arms to hold on tight/and I wanna take you higher/baby, never should say never/I got a hurricane inside my veins/and I wanna stay forever." Despite the pressures and frailties of the human body the promise of love, no matter how fickle or shattered, just might be worth living and fighting for after all.
Songs In A & E has been well worth the wait. It casts it spell and transports whoever hears it from heaven, purgatory, or hell...and back again. As a wiser man than me once said, "Buy the ticket, take the ride."
--Dan Berkman [June 7, 2008]
