Spiritualized - Songs in A&E - Music & Performance - CD

Spiritualized has a habit of coming on a little like a lamb and bursting into a roar like a lion and Songs In A&E would appear to be no exception to the challenging but glittering formula that makes the music of Spiritualized hum.

Following a difficult period for the group's leader Jason Pierce that included a life-threatening illness, the album is his ode to recovery and a sort of tribute to those who cared for him in his time of need. Pierce, or J. Spaceman as he is known professionally, makes great music out of real life trauma and this is his finest rendition of turning pain into song since 1997's widely praised, Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space.

The album opens with a quiet meditation of a brief intro: "Harmony 1 (Mellotron)" then slides into "Death Take Your Fiddle," an old-timey, ghostly song about a close call with the grim reaper, as told from the other side of life. The "Harmony" themes are interspersed throughout the track line-up, serving as important links in the chain of the whole (they are said to be a tribute to indie film director, Harmony Korine).

"Soul On Fire" is an imminently singable and orchestrated vision of traditional music. "I Gotta Fire" is a rocker while "Sitting On Fire" is just pure, orchestrated heartbreak. But Pierce doesn't stay down too long and comes back with the feedback soaked "Yeah Yeah," a kind of Dylanized speed rap.

For the project, Pierce assembled a large band to play the usual rock instruments then augmented the sound with a full orchestra and even used a garage band (The Dirtbombs from Detroit chime in on the raucous "Yeah Yeah") as well as another vocal ensemble to serve as a choir (on "Borrowed Your Gun").

"Baby I'm Just A Fool," employs some of Spiritualized's trademark repetition. The album's finisher, "Goodnight Goodnight" is appropriately a lonesome lullaby, with echoes of its genteel opener, "Sweet Talk."

For 17 years as Spiritualized, J. Spaceman has been getting his lazer-guided melodies in shape; with the songs he's composed ... in A&E, he may've actually perfected them, though it took knocking on death's door for him to get there.