Spiritualized’s eighteen year run has, to say the least, been a rollercoaster of a ride that’s spawned six albums, spat out eight band-members, received immense critical acclaim, courted whispered controversy and exhibited a multitude of musical styles. The only constant throughout has been founding member Jason Pierce and an outpouring of high quality music. ‘Songs In A&E’ was intended to be recorded and released quickly and quietly, but after Pierce contracted advanced periorbital cellulitis alongside bilateral pneumonia in 2005, work soon ground to a halt. His near death experience and prolonged periods of time spent in intensive care don’t necessarily form the basis of the album, but have undoubtedly shaped its sound, structure and feel. And after two long years in the making, the album, one of the most anticipated of the year, is finally ready for release.
Stylistically, the album incorporates a cacophony of self-repairing blues, country, gospel, stripped back psych-rock and intelligently heart stopping orchestration. The eighteen track opus is described by Pierce as being “the work of the devil…with a little guidance from me” which becomes immediately apparent in the condemned cold deathbed shiver of ‘Devil Take Your Fiddle’, the unapologetic loneliness of ‘Sitting On Fire’ and ‘Don’t Hold Me Close’, the accusatory finger pointing feeding frenzy of ‘You Lie You Cheat’ and the emotionally numbed ‘Borrowed Your Gun’.
The songs appear to strangely rejoice in the subject matter, brought alive through an expertly matched vocal that is entrenched with grief, consumed by morbidity but juxtaposed with hope through a profound authenticity. The lyrical sincerity and distinctively dexterous vocal performance is outstanding, able to convey hair-raising emotion through the anthemic brilliance of ‘Soul On Fire’, the alcohol soaked and politically on edge ‘Sweet Talk’ and the electrifying Tarantino road companions ‘I Gotta Fire’ and ‘Yeah Yeah’. Instrumentation is of course as equally important and ‘Songs In A&E’ has two mainstays.
The first, which peppers the majority of the album, is a vintage 1929 Gibson and the second, which also laces the album, is the consistent use of soaring strings and articulately employed orchestration, as used in the epic ‘Baby I’m Just A Fool’, ‘The Waves Crashed In’ and through the deep slices of cello, solitary funeral violin and swelling brass of ‘Goodnight Goodnight’. Adding to the intricately complex structure is ‘Harmony 1’ through to ‘Harmony 6’ the result of Pierce’s work on Harmony Korine’s 2008 film Mister Lonely, which sporadically litter the album with instrumental snapshots and add a further cold and haunting dimension to an already in part harrowing piece of work.
With a direct sense of purpose, Pierce has purged himself repeatedly through the exquisitely touching nature of ‘Songs In A&E’, created a soundtrack to dance on graves to and in the process cemented his position as one of Britain’s all time greats.
