Spiritualized: And Nothing Hurt – rock’s ultimate space cadet back in orbit

Most artists struggle to cobble together one great album in their careers, but Jason Pierce has managed to create at least three, in addition to his peerless back catalogue with Spacemen 3. And Nothing Hurt is his first album since the excellent Sweet Heart Sweet Light in 2012, which he partially debuted at St John's Church in Dingle for Other Voices. Spiritualized records are frequently grandiose affairs complete with orchestras, every type of bell and whistle, and maybe even Pierce playing the kitchen sink, but for this album he has stripped it all back to essentially a bedroom project recorded in his home in east London. I'm Your Man is a terrific single, but Here it Comes (The Road) Let's Go is pleasant but very predictable. Let's Dance has absolutely nothing to do with Bowie, but nicely namechecks September Gurls by Big Star. This is all thoroughly decent fare, but when you've got classic albums like Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space in the locker, almost anything else is bound to be a slight disappointment. However, few acts are as compelling live as Spiritualized on a good night, and Pierce is likely to execute these songs as stunning live material.

[ spiritualized.com ]