Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Spiritualized never did what I wanted them to do. When I heard "Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space", I wanted them to be another Sigur Ros. They aren't, never have been, and aren't now. And boy am I glad, because what they do is wonderful. After "Songs in A&E", Jason Pierce's deeply beautiful and interesting meditation on a near death experience (interestingly, largely written before he actually had a near death experience) I wasn't sure which way he'd go. He went big. The album opens with a hypnotic instrumental, and segues quickly into "Hey Jane", which is a simply wonderful jangle rock tune that starts great and just gets grander, ending 8 minutes later in a blissed out reverb drenched singalong: "Sweet heart, sweet light, sweet heart, and love of my life" he sings, sounding utterly sincere and affirming. An absolutely wonderful amazing way to open the album. "Headin' for the Top Now" stars out with a noisy crunchy guitar drone and then overlays a honky-tonk piano, then Pierce comes in with a world weary vocal that manages to channel the Stone Roses and Mick Jagger with attitude to spare. Huh? Yea. Exactly. "Mary", beautiful and soft on beginning, but evolving with a spare but funky guitar into a blues fueled chant. "Mary, you know this life's so sweet...Mary, you know we both have dreams but you're the one who gotta live them instead" Pierce sings while layers and layers of guitars and strings,not to mention layers of vocals pile on into an ecstasy of fuzzed out wonder. This album is long, slow and detailed, full of touches that reveal themselves over time, but is not delicate or precious--it is sincere, ambitious, and a very fulfilling listen.

Upon hearing 'Sweet Heart Sweet Light' for the first time a couple days back, my initial thoughts were, "Well, this sounds pretty much exactly as I expected it to sound." But by the end of that same listen, I realized, "No, this is the sound Jason Pierce has been striving towards since...well....ever." Or it least since the late 90's. Sure, there are choirs, strings, drug references, God references, etc., all with a slight gospel-y bent to it all. It wouldn't be a Spiritualized album without all that. The band are almost a genre unto themselves, with a sound no other act would dare borrow for fear of coming off as complete rip-off artists. And now that sound has been perfected, imo. This coming from someone who's been slightly burnt-out on this band the past few years, even though I thought their last album, 2008's 'Songs in A & E', was a pretty strong album.

Unlike Spiritualized's previous albums from the past decade, 'Sweet Heart Sweet Light' is packed with the grandiose, epic jams fans came to expect in the 90's, such as the 9-minute lead track (after the short intro) "Hey Jane," an excellent psych rave-up that builds and builds to an ecstasy-filled crescendo that literally caused the clouds to part, the sun to come out, and rainbows to shoot all over the sky during my first listen. OK, that may not have REALLY happened, but it did for me. Just you wait. No pharmaceutical help needed, but it certainly couldn't hurt! "Little Girl," one of the shorter, more straight-forward tracks, yet still filled with horns, strings, female backing vocals, etc., has one of the most infectious choruses I've ever heard, and it's over all too soon, which is not a bad thing, as it never became redundant. And besides, within seconds I was totally absorbed by the next song, 'Get What You Deserve,' a slow-burner with some pretty scary/demented lyrics from Mr. Pierce.

Another longish track at over 8 minutes, "Headin' for the Top Now," basically took me on an epic inner-journey while listening with headphones last night. There is so much going on, that it's nearly impossible to absorb everything at once. You almost have to pick out the melody or instruments you want to follow each time you listen, and just ride it out. The guitar tone, combined with what sounds like a sitar weaving in and out of the main groove, just tickles the brain perfectly, to the point that it was almost too much. Pierce brings it all back down to Earth with two soothing final tracks that are almost lullaby-like, in that they bring the listener back down to earth gently, after the intense journey that the rest of the album was. A perfect end to a nearly perfect album. The only negative I can think of would be that Pierce's vocals are, at times, too upfront in the mix, especially for a listener like me who wants to crank it up and get lost in this album's sonic bliss. At higher volumes the vocals, though good, are...well...piercing (pun not really intended), especially with headphones.

But that minor quibble doesn't detract from the fact that this album represents the culmination of everything Pierce has been building towards for the past 20 years, possibly even since the days of Spacemen 3. It's probably a bit too early to say, but I believe 'Sweet Heart Sweet Light' to be Spiritualized's best album since '97's "Ladies and Gentlemen..." Since that album, they have become a band where I will automatically purchase everything they put out, and I'll listen to it a few times, be happy, then move on. And now I've been rewarded with a mindblowing album that likely won't come out of my rotation for months and months. Amen to THAT I say, Mr. Pierce.

Jason Pierce has a formula. For many of us (including me) it works, so this album is good stuff. For those who do not know it, just buy one of his last 3-4 albums, and you'll get the idea. It goes something like this: 6-7 ballads with a mix of gospel-esque chorus and gentle string and/or piano accompaniments (or flat-out remixes of gospel favorites). Add some Jesus-be-my-savior-because-I'm-a-sinner lyrics. Subtract about 2 minutes of unlistenable discordant "improv." Add one or two faster-paced songs to get the toes tapping. Repeat every 3 years or so. That's it, and it is what it is.

Again, if you love the direction Spiritualized has taken since Laser Guided Melodies and Electric Mainline, you'll have a bunch of new(ish) sings to listen to and enjoy. I like it, though I hold to my belief that Laser Guided was his best work. There is not a lot here that is new or groundbreaking, but if you like the formula, you'll like the recording.