Spiritualized: From Death's Door, More Alive Than Ever

New To Me

For those of you that read this site or these newsletters and think it isn't for you because you might feel out of touch with music, I have a story - and a band - for you.  My true discovery of Spiritualized - a band recording stellar "space rock" music since the early 1990s - just happened earlier this week.  And words cannot describe how ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE they are!  

If nothing else, that should set your mind at ease that discovering great songs, stuff that really moves you, can happen anywhere, at any time.  I dont feel the least bit ashamed that I finally bought some Spiritualized records just now.  I will admit that I wish I could have seen them live sometime in the last ten years, but more important to me is that I can now experience the canon of front man Jason Pierce and the rest of the band in all their orchestral, spaced-out genius...or their stripped-down, droning and acoustic-based beauty.

My brother has been preaching the gospel of Spiritualized to me for years, especially because of the shared appreciation of the band by Luna frontman Dean Wareham.  Dean is a self-professed fan of Pierce's first band from the late 80s, Spacemen 3, one of the originators of the "shoegazing" genre of music.  Luna will always be one of my favorite bands, so I felt obligated to learn more, but I guess with all the music that is thrown at me and the fact that Spiritualized has been around for years (apparently consistently kicking ass just below the radar), I never took the step to buying an album.  My loss...until now.

Instead of passing up on Spiritualized, something changed this time around...unlike in previous years, there have not been a lot albums released in the first half of 2008 that have blown me away.  When I heard about the latest Spiritualized LP Songs in A & E  and the accompanying story about how long it took to complete due to Jason Pierce's near-death illness - I figured I'd give it a shot.  

I have to tell you even before hearing the full album, I knew that I had something special when I listened to the first single, "Soul On Fire."  As I write this now, my mind is currently being blown by Pierce's loving ballad "Baby I'm Just A Fool."  In the last few days, I have bought most of the Spiritualized catalog...I cant wait to catch up on all the time I've missed.  

Vitals:

Band Members:

Jason Pierce (a.k.a., J. Spaceman) is the lone consistent member of Spiritualized.  He has had a rotating line-up of talented musicians over the years, beginning with most of the members of Spacemen 3 (bassist Will Carruthers, drummer Jonny Mattock and guitarist Mark Refoy).  Pierce's old girlfriend Kate Radley rounded out the lineup for most of the 1990s before leaving the band - and Pierce - for Verve front man Richard Ashcroft.

The current line-up with Pierce is: Tony "Doggen" Foster, guitar; Tom Edwards, percussion; Tim Lewis (a.k.a., "Thighpaulsandra"), keyboards; Richard Warren, bass; Kevin Bales and John Coxon and many others contributing.

Conceived:

Spiritualized began in 1990 when Pierce and company split with Spacemen 3 co-front man Peter Kember.  Their first release was a cover of The Troggs' "Anyway That You Want Me."  The single even had a Spacemen 3 logo on it, much to Kember's chagrin.  Spiritualized's first LP, Lazer Guided Melodies, was released in 1992.

Roots:

J. Spaceman and many of his mates are originally from Rugby, England, but obviously also call London home.  When Pierce was ill, he was treated at the Royal London Hospital.  They have been an underground staple in the UK since the early 90s, coming up - and outperforming - with bands like The Verve and Oasis.

Sound & Sounds Like:

Despite already lazily using terms like "space rock" and "shoegazing" to describe Spiritualized, I will be the first to preach that this is a band that breaks out of a tightly specified label or genre, even one as esoteric as the aforementioned space rock.  Over the last 18 years, Jason Pierce has made gospel music, punk rock songs, released swirling orchestral masterpieces, laid down adoring acoustic ballads, penned smoky jazz songs and then, oh yeah, with almost every album, mixes all of these sounds into a musical bouillabaisse that could only be a Spiritualized song (see "The Twelve Steps" off Let It Come Down for a great example).

What Jason Pierce is best at in my opinion is making big sounds, often heavily produced in a positive way that when listening to a Spiritualized song, it is hard to find a flaw.  Think many instruments coming together for an indie-rock version of a symphony at Carnegie Hall.  Ironically, Pierce's singing voice is rather thin and at times, raspy.  I sometimes think of Damon Albarn when listening to Pierce sing; many have drawn comparisons to Lou Reed and The Velvet Underground when describing Spiritualized, but I would go much further.  They do their name justice by creating spiritual music, a truly moving experience.  Pierce channels Brian Wilson at times as well as something Daniel Lanois would create.  

If you are not afraid of music that will challenge you because of its variety, then you will be pleased with Spiritualized.  I find most of their albums to be very approachable, but the style from song to song can vary greatly.  For that matter, Jason Pierce has also evolved from album to album; Spiritualized began as a heavily produced prod or proto-rock band, much like a Phil Spector album.  However, Pierce has made a conscious effort to become more minimal as the band has progressed.  From space rock, to gospel anthems and jazz-rock jams, Pierce has arrived at a sound more acoustic based, yet still very big.  A quote from Pierce to Wired magazine put it best:

"I've already done those albums before, so there's little point in producing the same thing again. Music used to be all about performance rather than technique or production. Today, if you don't have a song and you have nothing to say, you can still dress it up with production. I've lately gotten into removing that. My new album has no reverb, and very little in the way of additional sounds. It's another process, something I haven't covered. I like finding new areas to work in."

Bar Talk:

So many stories to tell about Spiritualized, so much great fodder to discuss over several pints.  Here are the must-knows:

Jason Pierce wrote the majority of songs for the latest album, Songs In A & E in 2005.  The album was not finished and released until 2008 because Pierce contracted a rare eye infection and double pneumonia that left him in a coma, hanging on for his life.  The actual illness was called advanced periorbital cellulitis with bilateral pneumonia; the doctors at Royal London Hospital had to revive him from death two different times in a three week period.  When he was released, he weighed 112 pounds.  Aside from the miraculous recovery and return from Death's door, listen to Songs In A & E (stands for "accident" and "emergency") with this story in mind: he wrote the songs in 2005, yet was sick later that year...rather eerie how many of the songs almost predicted his experience.

Aside from Songs In A & E, Pierce also recorded the score for Harmony Korine's film this year, Mister Lonely.  Six tracks on Songs In A & E are entitled "Harmony (1-6)", dedicated to Korine.

Throughout 2007, Spiritualized performed what they called "Acoustic Mainlines", live shows with an acoustic bent, yet including Tony Foster on piano, three gospel singers, a seven-piece string orchestra, and Pierce on guitar.  Needless to say, the shows were rather spiritualized.

Althought the unofficial mantra of Spacemen 3 "music was taking drugs to make music to take drugs to", it is clear that with any Spiritualized album, Pierce and company are exploring more than the here-and-now.  Whether its the gospel choir or the ethereal organs, Jason Pierce is constantly dissecting his own mortality and existence.

Essential:

I find myself at a loss of words when explaining how strong, exciting and eclectic Spiritualized is.  I only can make you aware of my experience: once discovering this band, it reminds me why I love finding new music.  Even though Jason Pierce has been making music with two influential bands for almost 25 years, it new - and amazing - to me.  Essential albums: all of them, in any order.  I started at Songs In A &  E and went backward.  As my Spiritualized journey continues, a quote from J. Spaceman himself sums up my feelings perfectly:

"People get our stuff, and by extension the stuff we listened to when we made it. Sooner or later, someone picks up on all of it. But everyone wants their music to be immediate. 'Are you hip to this music?' means this is a music we are selling, in whatever regard. And it all comes around. I think I now disagree with Duke Ellington, who said there are two types of music: good and bad. I say now that there is stuff you like and you don't like, and that it will change. Because you can listen to stuff and not like it now, but in 20 years, when your circumstances change, you may come to love it."

LINKS: Spiritualized - Official Site