Album Review: Spiritualized, And Nothing Hurt

Six years after Sweet Heart Sweet Light, Spiritualized’s new album sees Jason Pierce (aka J. Spaceman) repairing to the recording space in his East London home, to put together an altogether luscious new album, And Nothing Hurt. The DIY approach has not diminished neither the rich production values nor the considerable scope of Pierce’s vision. Tracks like ‘Let’s Dance’ display the musician’s knack for densely engineered pop tunes. Then there’s his flair for thunderous, driving power chords, as showcased on the raucous ‘On The Sunshine’.
Dynamic tonal shifts abound, with roaring guitars often tempered by delicate piano melodies and lush orchestration. It’s an approach most brilliantly utilised on standout track ‘Damaged’, apparently inspired in equal measure by Pierce’s immersion in classical music, and the massive gigs they played with a 15-piece orchestra on the 20th anniversary tour of Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space.
With Spiritualized now essentially a solo project, this is very much Pierce’s vision. Impressively, he is capable of bringing great moments of fragility and melancholy to the fore, before quickly switching gears. The chaotic maximalism of ‘The Morning After’, for example, is followed by the warm and spacey ‘The Prize’, to wonderful effect. This is what And Nothing Hurt is capable of: seducing us into its soothing environs, before shaking our senses to their very core.
Idiosyncratic without being obscure, moving without being sentimental, And Nothing Hurt is a blistering album from a true maverick.

Out now