Street Spirit

I've always thought that Spiritualized made very romantic songs. Not intentionally romantic in the typical sense, not in a boy band notion, not romantic in the Richard Hawley sense or a swoon-ish Stars way, but it's somehow indirectly sentimental. There's a spacey aloof quality to the songs which are sparse but filled with grandoise uses of strings, reverb and crescendos. While Spiritualized's Jason Pierce, aka. J Spaceman is an atheist, his songs do sound a little like hymns, creating a coccoon of sound that is warm but distant at the same time. It's like coming home after a long night. The sound is dark (possibly due to a drug filled haze?) but there's an optimism in there. It sounds like dreams are possible and that things (ie. you and me) will work out in the end.

The new record, Songs in A & E is a continuation of these themes.

Spiritualized - I'm Gotta Fire (mp3) (buy)
Spiritualized - Baby, I'm just a fool (mp3) (buy)