Songs in AandE

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. 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. After his recovery, Jason was hesitant to finish the album, but a meeting with cult film director Harmony Korine inspired him to complete it. 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.

Jason wrote most of the songs on a 1929 Gibson L/00 (referred to as 'The Devil' in the liner notes) he bought in Cincinnati.

Music

Musically the album marks a return to "the more expansive elements of [Pierce's] sound [...] even though it features the fewest noise-scapes and most terse songs in Spiritualized's history." 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.

The album features a number of guest vocalists, including backing vocals from The Dirtbombs on "Yeah Yeah" and a duet with film-maker Harmony Korine's wife, Rachel on "Don't Hold Me Close." The album also introduces a greater influence of string arrangements to Spiritualized's sound. Pierce credits the compositions of the album's orchestrations to his paucity of technical skill. "I don't write music. So I just sing what I want into a tape machine. That way I'm not limited by what I can't play."

The ending of the 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. Pierce has stated this was a 'thank-you' to the singer, as Pierce's first live performance after his recovery was supporting Johnston at a tribute concert, in which he played a version of Funeral Home, as well as two other Johnston songs.

Track listing

All songs written by J Spaceman.

1. "Harmony 1 (Mellotron)" – 0:24
2. "Sweet Talk" – 4:05
3. "Death Take Your Fiddle" – 3:14
4. "I Gotta Fire" – 2:28
5. "Soul on Fire" – 4:08
6. "Harmony 2 (Piano)" – 0:43
7. "Sitting on Fire" – 4:38
8. "Yeah Yeah" – 2:28
9. "You Lie You Cheat" – 3:04
10. "Harmony 3 (Voice)" – 0:18
11. "Baby I'm Just a Fool" – 7:07
12. "Don't Hold Me Close" – 3:08
13. "Harmony 4 (The Old Man...)" – 1:33
14. "The Waves Crash In" – 4:08
15. "Harmony 5 (Accordion)" – 1:04
16. "Borrowed Your Gun" – 3:48
17. "Harmony 6 (Glockenspiel)" – 0:51
18. "Goodnight Goodnight" – 4:38

Singles