“Bewilderment” is the first word that came to mind after listening to ‘Huh?’ by Spiritualized, which is, and always has been a Jason Pierce [J. Spaceman] effort … setting forth on another questionable chemical adventure [at least that’s what the album art, with an imagined element from his own personal Periodic Table would suggest].

Though once I made the adjustment and settled in, content to listen to his orchestral arrangements, arrangements filled with rhythmic cycles, in zero gravity, images of Brian Wilson began to tumble through my head, images that were instantly meshed with The Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour, where hypnotic wonderings were mixed with classical structures and drifting drug induced rock n’ roll, layered in reverb, backwashes of coloured sound, and a calculated intensity that ebbed and flowed, building from almost nothingness into sound that possesses actual weight and intensity. And all this is delivered by a tender shaky voice that sounds unsettled and searching, full of longing and honesty … and no regret.

Jason finds many voices here, at times verging on controlled refined noise, while at other points he pulls together a warm Delta blues sound filled with enough soul to bring to mind the likes Wilco’s ‘Red Eyed & Blue’. But the comparisons don’t stop there … like a living hallucination, Jason draws from everything, even himself [Spiritualized and Spacemen 3], coming at you from just outside your field of vision, until you’re rolling so in tune with the music and the concept, that like any good drug, there’s no way out, you’re locked in for the rest of the trip. And it’s a warm introspective psychedelic ride to be sure, one that opens with a great bit of pop wanderlust, and then slowly unwinds like the spring of a mechanical watch, giving all, while winding down into oblivion.

Jenell Kesler

Spiritualized – ‘Sweet Heart Sweet Light’ (2012)