Spiritualized's new album And Nothing Hurt drove their mainman Jason Pierce “more mad than anything I’ve done before”.
Pierce was faced with making the album without record company support, and so had to build a home studio in his house in the Spitalfields area of East London. He also had to play almost every musical part on the LP, which is released on 7 September having been picked up after its completion by Simon Raymonde of Cocteau Twins' Bella Union label.
“Making this record on my own sent me more mad than anything I’ve done before,” Jason said. “We’d been playing these big shows and I really wanted to capture that sound we were making but, without the funds to do it, I had to find a way to work within the constraints of what money I had. So I bought a laptop and made it all in a little room in my house.”
Pierce says that this was a significant shift in the creative process for Spiritrualized, who had always previously used the studio as they would an extra member of the band.
Pierce had no grounding in digital recording and had to learn everything from scratch.
“The biggest thing for me was to try to make it sound like a studio session,“ .Pierce continues, “But I was new to it all, I didn’t have all the short cuts people use as when they’re making records – I just sat there for weeks… for months… moving every level up bit by bit just to try to get the sounds right.
“With a bit of trial and lot of error, I found ways of doing something that’s quite simple if you’ve got the resources. I spent two weeks listening to classical records and strumming the chord that I wanted on my guitar. When I found something to match what I wanted, I’d sample that bit and go for the next chord and try to match that. It took weeks, trying to put together and layer convincing string sounds. But, if I’m honest, all I wanted was for someone to come and play the part and bring their own thing to the record.”
Despite the fact that it was nearly entirely constructed by Pierce alone, there are significant sonic parallels between this album and their much celebrated second LP 'Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space', which featured literally dozens of musicians. He'd been playing live shows with Spiritualized to celebrate the 20th anniversary of 'Ladies and Gentlemen', originally released in the mid-90s.
From the sensitive, almost lullaby-like opening track 'A Perfect Miracle' to the driving Krautrock-meets-Velvet Undetground epic 'The Modern World', it certainly seems to be operating using a similar musical palette.
But lyrically, as you might expect from a recording being made two decades on, 'nd Nothing Hurt is much more about ageing and mortality.
“I didn’t want to be fighting against my age; it’s very much about acceptance. And not with any dissatisfaction either – I’m not raging against the inevitable. I spent a lot of time thinking about the way that the songs should hold together, trying to make the narratives make sense rather than just throwing together a couple of lines that rhymed.”
Jason was convinced, throughout its making, that this would be the last ever Spiritualized record, even stating in interviews that the frustration of making it was too stressful to undertake again. Even with the album now finished, and a bit of distance and perspective gained, Jason is not convinced he's ready to change his mind, without unequivocally ruling it out. But the fact he's enthused about the prospect of playing the LP means there's some hope of album number eight sometime in the future.
“I was quite sincere about that and I still feel like it might be the case,” he says, “It was such hard work. I found myself going crazy for so long. It’s not like there’s no coming back, I’m fine now… it’s just such a hard thing to do, to make a record like this on your own. It’s almost as if, if I’m not pushing myself to point of madness, it’s not going to be right. And I know it’s going to be like that every time.
“What’s the definition of madness? Doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I kind of do that. I think the biggest goal is to make something that’s worthy of all that time and effort. And the more time and effort, the bigger the goal. I knew I had to make something that was good enough that it should be made. And a massive positive about making the record is that we get to play it live. That’s always the most joyous thing; everyone gets to contribute to the sound, this amazing thing that seems to come right through the roof.”
And Nothing Hurts tracklisting:
1. A Perfect Miracle
2. I’m Your Man
3. Here It Comes (The Road) Let’s Go
4. Let’s Dance
5. On The Sunshine
6. Damaged
7. The Morning After
8. The Prize
9. Sail On Through
Spiritualized are on tour. this autumn Check here for ticket information.
SEPTEMBER
21 - London, Eventim Apollo
22 – Angers, Levitation, FR
23 – Paris, Cabaret Sauvage, FR
OCTOBER
11 – New York City, Kings Theatre, USA
NOVEMBER
02 – Barcelona, Razzmatazz, ES
03 – Madrid, La Rivera, ES
24 – Berlin, Synasthesie Festival, DE
