| Spiritualized — And Nothing Hurt (7 Sept. 2018) |
Spiritualized — And Nothing Hurt (7 Sept. 2018)
✹ O tom, co může, ale nemusí být poslední album jeho legendárního space~rockového projektu, zatím pomlčme. Jason Pierce konečně zní, jako by se držel svých vášní, starostí a démonů. Drží vocas splašeného koně tím, co umí nejlépe: maximalistickou melancholii. V notebooku ve své ložnici ve východním Londýně se dá toho udělat hodně...
✹ Pokud bude pokračovat v nahrávání, bude to album, které otevírá novou živou kapitolu ságy Spiritualized.
Location: London, UK
Recording Location:
✹ ROFL Audio Recording
Styles: Dream Pop, Indie Rock, Neo~Psychedelia
Album release: 7 September 2018
Record Label: Fat Possum/Bella Union
Duration: 48:15
Tracks:
01 A Perfect Miracle 4:47
02 I’m Your Man 4:29
03 Here It Comes (The Road) Let’s Go 4:42
04 Let’s Dance 5:11
05 On The Sunshine 5:00
06 Damaged 4:58
07 The Morning After 7:42
08 The Prize 5:25
09 Sail On Through 6:01
Personnel
Musicians:
✹ J. Spaceman — Fender Thinline, Fender Jazzmaster, Gibson L~00, Fender Bass VI, Burns Sonic Bass, Gibson Firebird III, Farfisa, Vox Continental, Juno~60, Radioshack 100, harmonica, glockenspiel
✹ Tony Foster — Gibson Black Beauty, Fender Jazzmaster, harmonica, Rickenbacker lap steel, Epiphone Batwing
✹ James Stelfox — Fender Precision Bass, Fender Jazz Bass, Burns Sonic Bass, Fender Bass VI
✹ Tom Edwards — percussion, timpani, vibraphone, glockenspiel
✹ Lee Horsley — Hammond, piano, Vox Continental, Fender Rhodes, Farfisa Compact
✹ Dave Richmond — orchestral bass, Burns Bison Bass
✹ Scott Baylis — Roland Juno~106, Roland SH~01, Roland JU~06, Roli Seaboard
✹ Jonny Aitken — drums
✹ John Coxon — Gibson Firebird
✹ Alan Wilkinson — saxophones
✹ Kevin Brown — saxophones
✹ Kevin Cunningham — trumpet
✹ Stuart Haugh — trombone
✹ Jim Walker — violin
✹ Daniel Thomas — singing
✹ Lena Wright — singing
✹ Wendi Rose — singing
✹ Travis Cole — singing
✹ Alex Lamey — strings and horns
✹ Adam Langston — strings and horns
Technical personnel:
✹ J. Spaceman — production, mixing, further production and mixing
✹ Darren Lawson — mixing
✹ Guy Massey — recording engineering
✹ Tom Leach — recording engineering, assistant engineering
✹ Misha Hering — recording engineering
✹ Aaron Cupples — recording engineering
✹ Iggy B — recording engineering
✹ David Stanley — recording engineering
✹ Shuta Shinoda — recording engineering
✹ Darren Lawson — recording engineering
✹ Oli Bayston — recording engineering
✹ Emre Ramazanoglu — recording engineering
✹ Armelle Pignon — assistant engineering
✹ Ben McCluskey — assistant engineering
✹ Josh Green — assistant engineering
✹ Max Prior — assistant engineering
✹ Tom Leach — assistant engineering
✹ Noel Summerville — mastering engineering
✹ Steve Mackey — further production and mixing
Artwork:
✹ Juliette Larthe — photography
✹ Christina Dunlap — photography
✹ Travis Waddell — photography
✹ John Coxon — photography
✹ Rich Good — photography
✹ Farrow — design and art direction
✹ Spaceman — design and art direction
Charts:
✹ UK Albums (OCC) #11
AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek; Score: ****
✹ Six years in the making, And Nothing Hurt, the eighth album by Spiritualized, is instantly recognizable for its trademark meld of garage rock, pillowy psychedelia, gospel, R&B, and blues via guitars, strings, horns, keyboards, and a stellar backing chorus in intimate, vulnerable, confessional songs. Since the early ’90s (earlier if you count Spacemen 3), Jason Pierce has cultivated a lush production palette and songwriting style that often involves dozens of musicians in big~budget recording studios.
✹ This date follows that M.O. with a caveat: It was largely recorded on a laptop alone in his bedroom. Pierce began these sessions as a series of demos with Youth. Unhappy with the result, he scrapped almost everything to begin again, but faced a logistics problem: Most of his money had been spent. Necessity being the mother of invention, he bought a laptop and undertook the painstaking process of learning to use Pro Tools.
✹ His budget was so miniscule, the record’s requisite string orchestra was assembled from sampled bits off classical recordings.
✹ After finishing basic tracks, he hired players for instruments he couldn’t play, including timpani, horns, and upright bass, as well as the vocal chorus. He cut their parts in professional studios. Despite this, And Nothing Hurt (titled after the epitaph of Billy Pilgrim, the hero of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse Five), fits Spiritualized’s aesthetic perfectly.
✹ As a songwriter and arranger, all of Pierce’s strengths are readily apparent. The strummed ukulele intro to opener “A Perfect Miracle” blossoms into a Baroque psychedelic waltz that Ray Davies might have constructed during the Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society period. “I’m Your Man” is drenched in the warmth of Stax~style horns in kaleidoscopic R&B. The sunshine~drenched “Here It Comes (The Road) Let’s Go” weaves a strolling NOLA~style horn chart through a gospelized vocal chorus, pulsing analog synths, and shambolic guitars.
✹ “Damaged” is a country waltz à la Mickey Newbury with slide guitars in place of pedal steel and a lonesome, lyric that sounds simultaneously exhausted and needy. “The Morning After” continues the story of Jane from “Hey Jane,” and gives way to a squalling boogie garage rock orgy built on a two~chord vamp and peppered with bleating saxophones, brass, and backing vocals.
✹ “The Morning After” nods toward the Loaded~era Velvet Underground with its textured yet frenetic attack, underscored by a howling harmonica and framed by a female chorus that transforms the tune into mutant gospel. Two other tracks here, “The Prize” and the closer “Sail on Through,” are hazy, languid assemblages of orchestral psych pop and narcotic gospel.
✹ During the recording process, Pierce felt he was creating the final Spiritualized effort; pleased with results, that seems no longer to be the case. In full, And Nothing Hurt stands alongside the very best outings on the Spiritualized shelf. Its finest moments are consequently its most tender, revealing how much Pierce has grown as a writer. If he continues to record, this will be the album that opens a vibrant new chapter in the saga of Spiritualized.
_____________________________________________________________
| Spiritualized — And Nothing Hurt (7 Sept. 2018) |
✹ Pokud bude pokračovat v nahrávání, bude to album, které otevírá novou živou kapitolu ságy Spiritualized.
Location: London, UK
Recording Location:
✹ ROFL Audio Recording
Styles: Dream Pop, Indie Rock, Neo~Psychedelia
Album release: 7 September 2018
Record Label: Fat Possum/Bella Union
Duration: 48:15
Tracks:
01 A Perfect Miracle 4:47
02 I’m Your Man 4:29
03 Here It Comes (The Road) Let’s Go 4:42
04 Let’s Dance 5:11
05 On The Sunshine 5:00
06 Damaged 4:58
07 The Morning After 7:42
08 The Prize 5:25
09 Sail On Through 6:01
Personnel
Musicians:
✹ J. Spaceman — Fender Thinline, Fender Jazzmaster, Gibson L~00, Fender Bass VI, Burns Sonic Bass, Gibson Firebird III, Farfisa, Vox Continental, Juno~60, Radioshack 100, harmonica, glockenspiel
✹ Tony Foster — Gibson Black Beauty, Fender Jazzmaster, harmonica, Rickenbacker lap steel, Epiphone Batwing
✹ James Stelfox — Fender Precision Bass, Fender Jazz Bass, Burns Sonic Bass, Fender Bass VI
✹ Tom Edwards — percussion, timpani, vibraphone, glockenspiel
✹ Lee Horsley — Hammond, piano, Vox Continental, Fender Rhodes, Farfisa Compact
✹ Dave Richmond — orchestral bass, Burns Bison Bass
✹ Scott Baylis — Roland Juno~106, Roland SH~01, Roland JU~06, Roli Seaboard
✹ Jonny Aitken — drums
✹ John Coxon — Gibson Firebird
✹ Alan Wilkinson — saxophones
✹ Kevin Brown — saxophones
✹ Kevin Cunningham — trumpet
✹ Stuart Haugh — trombone
✹ Jim Walker — violin
✹ Daniel Thomas — singing
✹ Lena Wright — singing
✹ Wendi Rose — singing
✹ Travis Cole — singing
✹ Alex Lamey — strings and horns
✹ Adam Langston — strings and horns
Technical personnel:
✹ J. Spaceman — production, mixing, further production and mixing
✹ Darren Lawson — mixing
✹ Guy Massey — recording engineering
✹ Tom Leach — recording engineering, assistant engineering
✹ Misha Hering — recording engineering
✹ Aaron Cupples — recording engineering
✹ Iggy B — recording engineering
✹ David Stanley — recording engineering
✹ Shuta Shinoda — recording engineering
✹ Darren Lawson — recording engineering
✹ Oli Bayston — recording engineering
✹ Emre Ramazanoglu — recording engineering
✹ Armelle Pignon — assistant engineering
✹ Ben McCluskey — assistant engineering
✹ Josh Green — assistant engineering
✹ Max Prior — assistant engineering
✹ Tom Leach — assistant engineering
✹ Noel Summerville — mastering engineering
✹ Steve Mackey — further production and mixing
Artwork:
✹ Juliette Larthe — photography
✹ Christina Dunlap — photography
✹ Travis Waddell — photography
✹ John Coxon — photography
✹ Rich Good — photography
✹ Farrow — design and art direction
✹ Spaceman — design and art direction
Charts:
✹ UK Albums (OCC) #11
AllMusic Review by Thom Jurek; Score: ****
✹ Six years in the making, And Nothing Hurt, the eighth album by Spiritualized, is instantly recognizable for its trademark meld of garage rock, pillowy psychedelia, gospel, R&B, and blues via guitars, strings, horns, keyboards, and a stellar backing chorus in intimate, vulnerable, confessional songs. Since the early ’90s (earlier if you count Spacemen 3), Jason Pierce has cultivated a lush production palette and songwriting style that often involves dozens of musicians in big~budget recording studios.
✹ This date follows that M.O. with a caveat: It was largely recorded on a laptop alone in his bedroom. Pierce began these sessions as a series of demos with Youth. Unhappy with the result, he scrapped almost everything to begin again, but faced a logistics problem: Most of his money had been spent. Necessity being the mother of invention, he bought a laptop and undertook the painstaking process of learning to use Pro Tools.
✹ His budget was so miniscule, the record’s requisite string orchestra was assembled from sampled bits off classical recordings.
✹ After finishing basic tracks, he hired players for instruments he couldn’t play, including timpani, horns, and upright bass, as well as the vocal chorus. He cut their parts in professional studios. Despite this, And Nothing Hurt (titled after the epitaph of Billy Pilgrim, the hero of Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse Five), fits Spiritualized’s aesthetic perfectly.
✹ As a songwriter and arranger, all of Pierce’s strengths are readily apparent. The strummed ukulele intro to opener “A Perfect Miracle” blossoms into a Baroque psychedelic waltz that Ray Davies might have constructed during the Kinks’ Village Green Preservation Society period. “I’m Your Man” is drenched in the warmth of Stax~style horns in kaleidoscopic R&B. The sunshine~drenched “Here It Comes (The Road) Let’s Go” weaves a strolling NOLA~style horn chart through a gospelized vocal chorus, pulsing analog synths, and shambolic guitars.
✹ “Damaged” is a country waltz à la Mickey Newbury with slide guitars in place of pedal steel and a lonesome, lyric that sounds simultaneously exhausted and needy. “The Morning After” continues the story of Jane from “Hey Jane,” and gives way to a squalling boogie garage rock orgy built on a two~chord vamp and peppered with bleating saxophones, brass, and backing vocals.
✹ “The Morning After” nods toward the Loaded~era Velvet Underground with its textured yet frenetic attack, underscored by a howling harmonica and framed by a female chorus that transforms the tune into mutant gospel. Two other tracks here, “The Prize” and the closer “Sail on Through,” are hazy, languid assemblages of orchestral psych pop and narcotic gospel.
✹ During the recording process, Pierce felt he was creating the final Spiritualized effort; pleased with results, that seems no longer to be the case. In full, And Nothing Hurt stands alongside the very best outings on the Spiritualized shelf. Its finest moments are consequently its most tender, revealing how much Pierce has grown as a writer. If he continues to record, this will be the album that opens a vibrant new chapter in the saga of Spiritualized.
_____________________________________________________________