Spiritualized may have just released their final album. Jason Pierce, the main creative force behind the band, decided during recording of the album, And Nothing Hurt – released last week – that that would be the case.
“I was quite sincere about that and I still feel like it might be the case. It was such hard work. I found myself going crazy for so long.”
I’m Your Man is the first single from the album. It’s a happily jet-lagged, life-affirming, psychedelic love song, incorporating sweet soul guitar licks, Jason’s gentle vocals and a soaring brass section on the chorus. Think somewhere between Screamadelica era Primal Scream and late-sixties Stax or Atlantic R&B and you’ll be close.
Jason, AKA J. Spaceman, has always been good at this sort of uplifting arrangement, going back to his time as one-time one half of the great Spacemen 3 back in the day. So why is he considering throwing in the towel? Well, because when he said this album sent him crazy, he wasn’t kidding.
“Making this record on my own sent me more mad than anything I’ve done before. We’d been playing these big shows and I really wanted to capture that sound we were making but, without the funds to do it, I had to find a way to work within the constraints of what money I had. So I bought a laptop and made it all in a little room in my house.”
The problem was that he had zero experience of this type of recording and extremely high standards to maintain. Consequently, he ended up spending months and months on a meticulous and frustrating process of trial and error to achieve all the sounds he wanted.
“I spent two weeks listening to classical records and strumming the chord that I wanted on my guitar. When I found something to match what I wanted, I’d sample that bit and go for the next chord and try to match that.”
Ultimately, the results of this painstaking process can be heard on the album. Jason’s obsession has paid off. Like all his best previous work, it’s a laid back but joyous record that will take you on a transcendent trip to another mindset. And it may not be his last after all.
“It’s not like there’s no coming back, I’m fine now… it’s just such a hard thing to do, to make a record like this on your own.”
And Nothing Hurt is available now on Bella Union Records in the UK and on Fat Possum Records in the US.
