Songs in A&E
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| Songs in A&E | |||||
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| Studio album by Spiritualized | |||||
| Released | May 26, 2008 | ||||
| Recorded | Cedars, Nottingham | ||||
| Genre | Space rock, Alternative rock | ||||
| Length | 51:41 | ||||
| Label | Universal Records/Spaceman Records/Fontana International | ||||
| Producer | J. Spaceman | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
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| Spiritualized chronology | |||||
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Songs in A&E is the sixth studio album by the group Spiritualized and is their first since 2003's Amazing Grace. It was released on May 26, 2008 in the UK and on May 27 in the USA. The album's first single was "Soul On Fire", released on the 19th of May in the UK. It was released on standard CD, a limited edition book and double LP. [1] Frontman Jason Pierce has said that the album is "the work of the Devil... with a little guidance from me."[2] The CD leaked onto the internet on March 29, 2008.
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[edit] Background
Songs in A&E comes five years after Spiritualized's previous album - 2003's Amazing Grace - and following Pierce's near death experience in 2005 after he had contracted advanced periorbital cellulitis with bilateral pneumonia with rapid deterioration requiring intensive care and c-pap for type 1 respiratory failure.[3]. Indeed, the album takes its title from the long period Pierce spent in the Accident and Emergency ward (A&E) during this illness and it is also dedicated to the staff at The Royal London Hospital where he was treated.
However, most of the songs were written before Jason fell ill. The record was about a family that wasn't his, but when he revisited them Jason felt it predicted his near-death experience in some way. [4] After his recovery, Jason was hesitant to finish the album, but a meeting with cult film director Harmony Korine inspired him to go back and finish the album. He also released a solo experimental record, Guitar Loops, and recorded the soundtrack to Korine's 2008 film Mister Lonely, with the Sun City Girls. The six Harmony tracks on the album are named after the director.[5]
Jason also wrote most of the songs on the the album on a 1929 Gibson L/00 (referred to as 'The Devil' in the liner notes) he bought in Cincinnati.
[edit] Music
The Observer Music Monthly has described the album's sound as "touching and harrowing [...and] belligerent."
New songs such as "Death Take Your Fiddle" and, especially, "Sitting on Fire" - which sounds as if Pierce recorded the vocal from his deathbed - are eerily prescient, while 'Don't Hold Me Close', a tender duet with film-maker Harmony Korine's wife, Rachel, recalls Gram Parsons and Emmylou Harris [...] Throughout the album there are interludes of church chimes, otherworldly beeps and odd noises. In places it could be mistaken for an album of elevator music made for funeral homes and released on electronic label Warp. It is quite a trip.[6]
The track "Yeah Yeah" features backing vocals from The Dirtbombs.
The ending of last track, "Goodnight Goodnight," features a brief lyrical and melodic nod to Daniel Johnston's "Funeral Home" (from his albums Continued Story and 1990), which itself is a nod to Bruce Springsteen.
[edit] Track listing
- Harmony 1 (Mellotron) - 0:24
- Sweet Talk - 4:05
- Death Take Your Fiddle - 3:14
- I Gotta Fire - 2:28
- Soul on Fire - 4:08
- Harmony 2 (Piano) - 0:43
- Sitting on Fire - 4:38
- Yeah Yeah - 2:28
- You Lie You Cheat - 3:04
- Harmony 3 (Voice) - 0:18
- Baby I'm Just a Fool - 7.07
- Don't Hold Me Close - 3:08
- Harmony 4 (The Old Man) - 1:33
- The Waves Crash In - 4:08
- Harmony 5 (Accordion) - 1:04
- Borrowed Your Gun - 3:48
- Harmony 6 (Glockenspiel) - 0:51
- Goodnight Goodnight - 4:38
[edit] References
- ^ Spiritualized Details: U.S. LP, Mister Lonely Soundtrack
- ^ Spiritualized Finish Album, Schedule Euro, U.S. Shows
- ^ Nadelle, David. Spiritualized's Jason Pierce Recovering From Illness. Pitchfork Media.
- ^ Rock of the casualty lifestyle: Jason Pierce's Songs in A&E - Times Online
- ^ [http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/04/from-space-to-s.html, Interview with Pierce.
- ^ Capper, Andy. Spirited away. Observer Music Monthly.
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