Spiritualized: Songs in A&E

Let’s do some music reviews. Not really reviews, per se, but me telling you what albums you should buy and the reasons you should buy them. I guess that’s a review, but you won’t read any negative music reviews from me because I won’t take the time to write them. All my music reviews will be recommendations. Let’s call them music recommendations for simplicity’s sake.

My friend Chad told me about an album I should listen to. It’s the new CD by Spiritualized, entitled Songs in A&E. He said I’d appreciate the lyrics and the spacey textures, especially considering my on-going medical condition and reliance on pain meds. He was right (he usually is). I love this album. I’ve never listened to Spiritualized before, so you true-blue Spiritualized fans can mock me now. The album artwork is simple and effective: green ink on a white background. I’m glad that they list the song titles on the back cover. A lot of hip “indie” bands are getting away from that for some reason (i.e. Bright Eyes) or they print the titles really small near the spine (i.e. the new Wolf Parade) so I can’t read them. I like to see how many tracks are on an album and I like to be able to refer to the album cover to see the name of the song as I’m listening to the CD so I don’t have to call the song Track 3 or Track 7 or whatever.

The songs on A&E range from sparse, nearly acoustic numbers like Death Take Your Fiddle (with an eerie breathing track) to grandiose, orchestral pieces like Borrowed Your Gun. Death Take Your Fiddle sounds surprisingly similar to Townes Van Zandt's Waiting Around to Die. There are some great intermittent instrumental pieces that tie things together nicely. The album has an overall cohesive feel; it’s a concept album in an era of singles. My friend told me that the lead singer/songwriter went through a period where he lived in the hospital on the brink of death for a while. Most of the songs on the album reflect that theme—a closeness to death, overmedication, hallucination, etc. Some of the lyrics are incredible. Here are a few examples:

I think I’ll drink myself into a coma
And I’ll take any pill that I can find
But morphine, codeine, whisky they won’t alter
The way I feel now death is not around

And

I got a hurricane inside my veins
And I want to stay forever

And

Daddy I’m sorry
I borrowed your gun again
Shot up my mother
My beautiful mother

This album is dark but it’s amazing. If you haven’t listened to Spiritualized before, take a chance on it. If you have, you already know how good it can be.