Spiritualized

I confess the modest knowledge I have of the art world. But a concept that is intriguing to me is allowing multiple people to simultaneously view a work and perceive entirely different things. Obvious examples include any sculpture, statue or otherwise three-dimensional piece. The texture or material can affect this, as well as the use of lighting or dimensions of the piece, not to mention viewer placement to object (above, below, in front, behind, etc.). Maria Irene Forne achieves this in theater with the play Fefu and Her Friends, in which the second act is viewed in four sections with audience members watching in a different order. Other examples are vast in the visual domain of art, but the reason Spiritualized’s Ladies and Gentlemen We’re Floating in Space continues to amaze me is that it does this with sound. What I focus on and specifically listen to on any given song can and most likely will be different from someone listening to the same piece.
The simplest (but arguably most complex) place to start with this album is the eponymous opener, fading in as if in a dream that we don’t know how it started, but already are in the middle of it. Reverberating tambourine and a single vocal line stand out; panned shimmerings and a stoic appregriated guitar. The second vocal line comes in, and the photo of Jason Pierce nodding off in a space helmet immediately springs to mind. Well-placed beeps from ground control let us know someone is there. And then: the chorus. Drums build up and the electric guitars kick in. Vocal harmonies and a string section attach us back to Earth. A third vocal line emerges and indeed, and our attention is already bouncing between multiple poles. Simultaneously wanting to take it all in as well as focus on the individual components of this song, our senses and imagination are overwhelmed. A final chorus builds up and a sharp ending. We would have fallen completely into the depths of space if ‘Come Together’ didn’t reach out with its robotic arm to snatch us from the perils of the universe. The sweet melodies and comforting atmosphere of the first track are traded in for feedback and a gospel chorus, a more aggressive bass line and horn section. And if the instrumentation weren’t enough to focus on, the vocal content shifts entirely as well. Drug references abound and the repeating title lyric. And the hardest hitting part of the song? After a distortion-bass lead bridge, two handclaps that sound like the smack of a backhand to the face of a junkie in a zoned out bliss.
No silence between tracks, but a fluid transition allows us to recuperate at the beginning of ‘I Think I’m in Love.’ Droning synths, wah pedals, harmonica and hypnotic bass. Its sounds so simple but already overwhelming by the time Pierce’s layered vocals enter almost a minute in. As the song itself has the dual A/B sections of no drums/drums, the lyrics express the dual +/- that is in every thought. “I think I’m in love (probably just hungry)…Think I want to tell the world (probably ain’t listening).” Who do we decide to believe? Who do we listen to? If we’re merciful to ourselves, the first lines feel justified. But we also have to consider the reality. Perhaps our perceptions have been altered by what we’ve had for breakfast (off a mirror or from a bottle as the case may be) and perhaps it really is a shitty day out there. The genius of the album is that on a whole, the music reflects these sentiments via a dialectic fashion. Through the dynamic of music, at times quiet, at times loud, soothing or frustrating, it’s all there and never in an order we expect. The distorted cacophony of ‘The Individual’ moves right into the somber ‘Broken Heart,’ which pulls down the window shades on even the nicest of July days. And again, the frenetic energy that follows in ‘No God Only Religion,’ the chiming of church bells playing off a horn section and feedback guitars, an imposing string section backed by a rock drum beat. The eclectic amalgamation of sounds that Pierce crafts are as mesmerizing as they are mystifying. Once we think we finally understand, we are baptized in the holiness of ‘Cool Waves’ to begin life anew. The Dr. John assisted closer ‘Cop Shoot Cop…’ reaches level of epic intensity that only its mentor Sister Ray can top. Everything the album has been building up to comes back around here. The dynamic shifts, blocks of noise, the gospel chorus, repetition, repetition, the view from the moon of the Earth eclipsing the sun, the ups and downs of drug use, the lefts and rights of relationships. The album can be experienced from any of these views, and assuredly a multitude more. With so much going on, Pierce challenges our ideas of focus: the drug that irritates the mind the most is reality and our addiction to knowledge becomes disassembled when we don’t know what exactly to pay attention to. Often enough it’s the most simple, banal ideas that require our greatest awareness. We think we’re alive, probably just breathing: Spiritualized are mind blowing, probably just playing music.