Album Review - Spiritualized: Sweet Heart Sweet Light

Spiritualized
Sweet Heart Sweet Light
Rating: Meh

Jason Pierce's Spiritualized has one classic album under its belt, 1997's Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space, that perfectly encapsulates the Spiritualized sound: droning, trance inducing guitars, lush orchestration, gospel, blues, and an over-the-top grandiosity that all but announced itself spent upon arrival. Since the release of that album, Pierce has essential remade the same record over and over again, almost to the point of self-parody. At this point, I suppose it is not worth the time hoping for a change in direction; this is his bread and butter, and will likely remain so. While plenty of bands have mined the same territory for years, there are usually subtle changes or shifts in focus that maintain some interest, but Pierce appears content to remain in the same place, treading the same waters. His music by template approach grows wearying over each subsequent album, and in effect, lessens the brilliant impact of his best work.

There are some moments on Sweet Heart Sweet Light where I thought he might be on to something. Lead single "Hey Jane" is actually a brilliant song, subtly growing from its chugging beginning into a frenzied guitar rave-up, the perfect way to chronicle the universe of a girl hell bent on burning out brightly.



"Mary" eschews Pierce's usual narcotic delivery for a deeply emotional journey. The track begins languidly over organ and bluesy swathes of guitar, intensifying gradually, keeping a swarm of feedback at bay as the tale unfurls.



When Pierce attempts to streamline his tracks, like on the brief pop excursion "Little Girl," they lose what interest they normally would have, and border on the banal.



And when you have several songs that all start with the same organ/guitar drone leading into dense guitar freakout you begin to wonder if you hit repeat. "Get What You Deserve," "I Am What I Am," and "Life Is A Problem" all suffer from the same sense of deja vu.



Which all leads to the inevitable final track, which always attempts to become some grand, album-defining moment, and "So Long You Pretty Thing" tries admirably, but never really takes off due to a fairly generic melody and simplistic lyrics.



The main problem I have with Sweet Heart Sweet Light is not that it is a horrible album per se, but that, at this point, there is just nothing surprising anymore. As with his last three albums, there appears to be a checklist that he goes down, and when he is finished, the record is done. I can listen to the record easy enough, it is perfectly pleasant and agreeable, but there is nothing that brings me back, begging me to explore further; it is the same on first listen as it is on 20th. When there are so many other bands/artists out there pushing their sound into new directions, it is easy to let this record fall through the cracks, which is about the worst thing you can say about a record.

Rating Scale:

Chilfos: masterpiece; coolest thing I've heard in ages.

Woof Daddy: excellent; just a hair away from being a masterpiece.

Grrrr: very good; will definitely be considered for my top releases of the year.

Yeah Daddy Make Me Want It: good; definitely invites further listens and piques one's interest for more material.

Meh: not horrible, but certainly not great; could have either been polished, trimmed, or re-thought.

Jeez Lady: what the hell happened? Just plain bad. They should hang their heads in shame and be forced to listen to Lady Gaga ad nauseam as penance.

Tragicistani: so bad, armed villagers with pitchforks and torches should run the artist out of the country for inflicting this abomination on the human race.