Sunday, July 20, 2008
A+E, Music, Reviews

SPIRITUALIZED

“SONGS IN A&E” (SANCTUARY)

 Sukhi Dhanda
SPIRITUALIZED
w/the Dirtbombs
Wednesday, July 23
Variety Playhouse
$20-22.50                                                     
404-524-7654
variety-playhouse.comMore than a decade (and one near-death experience) after “Ladies and Gentlemen, We are Floating in Space,” his most stirring and revelatory album, Jason Pierce—aka Spiritualized—bounces back with this unexpected gem. There have been two other studio releases since then, but “Songs …” balances Pierce’s spacey impulses with melodic, confident material that bobs, weaves and, well, floats like the ever-changing globules in a lava lamp. 
   
The disc’s sparse artwork—no photos, just the title in green block letters against a white background—indicates a more stripped-down approach. While that term is relative when it comes to Pierce, who often employs a full orchestra to enhance his sometimes heavy-handed psychedelic pop, the savvy sense of atmospherics and dynamics here makes for a dramatic, yet never—well, seldom—overblown project.

His brevity is also commendable. The album’s first single, “Soul on Fire,” is the finest love song Oasis never wrote; Pierce sets it up with a stark opening that blossoms into lush, perfectly placed orchestration. At just over four minutes, it’s a defining, even epic moment, and it deserves to be a hit. “Borrowed Your Gun” relates the tragic story of a disturbed child who murders his family and is ready to die himself, told in the first person with a perfect balance of poignancy and despair as strings well up for the song’s angelic climax. He’s brash, egotistical, even arrogant, but Jason Piece uses those qualities to craft his most dynamic and affecting set yet. 3 STARS—Hal Horowitz