Spiritualized, And Nothing Hurt album review: Brimming with intensity

Spiritualized’s eighth album hails from the same blissed-out space-rock territory and layered arrangements as 1997 masterpiece 'Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space'

Jason Pierce recently suggested this Spiritualized record would be his last. That was largely due to its labour-intensive creation on a laptop in Pierce’s east London home, over a prolonged period: it’s six years since his last album’s release. On hearing And Nothing Hurt, you get why this might have taken its toll.

Sonically, Spiritualized’s eighth album hails from the same blissed-out space-rock territory and layered arrangements as 1997 masterpiece Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space – and that opus was recorded in the luxury of the studio with a string quartet and gospel choir.

Not that And Nothing Hurt sounds laboured. Romantic lullaby opener “A Perfect Miracle” conjures a childlike wonder, floating beatifically with cycling synth violins, bells and Pierce’s typically softly sung, overlapping vocals.

If the themes of heartache and self-reflection are nothing new, in place of desolation there’s now a sense of catharsis and acceptance of the passing of time. Nowhere is this captured better than in the bruised and supremely melodic piano-led “Let’s Dance”, which builds hypnotic layers of swirling, siren-like instrumentation and chiming bells summoning the sounds of the galaxy. By contrast, “On the Sunshine” is an energetic mix of gospel and garage rock.

The album, at times, could be reined in. Enjoyable country track “Here It Comes (the Road) Let’s Go” runs out of gas with a meandering saxophone solo, while the unhinged cacophony of free jazz and brass-heavy orchestration unleashed over “The Morning After”’s driving groove begins to drag.

Brimming with intensity and the analgesic hypnotism that is Pierce’s signature, And Nothing Hurt would make a suitably majestic final Spiritualized album. And oh, to hear it performed with a real live orchestra.