Spaced-out and special

Spiritualized: "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space" (Dedicated)

Spiritualized: "Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space" (Dedicated)

Dial-a-track code: 1201

Tripped-out sounds, time-warped keyboards, druggy lyrics and a heart full of soul are just a few of the ingredients in Jason Pierce's chemical design for life. Add in the other-worldly voices of the London Community Gospel Choir and some brash horn arrangements, and you've got a sonic experience which is both trashy and transcendent.

Spiritualized's third album was supposed to hover over the record shelves this week, but its release has been delayed while the band re-records the title track. Apparently, Jason couldn't get permission to use Elvis Presley's I Can't Help Falling In Love With You, which is a pity, because the borrowed words would make a perfect orbit around Kate Radley's sputnik keyboards and Pierce's multi-tracked vocals.

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The love-lost-in-space themes which Spiritualized practically pioneered are relaunched in songs like All Of My Thoughts and Stay With Me, but there's a subterranean depth to Jason's lyrics, and the dreamy desolation of Broken Heart is anchored to earth by some downbeat lyrics, Jason Pierce playing the lonely astronaut marooned in his own headspace. The eight-minute wonder I Think I'm In Love is a down-to-earth dissection of human feelings, and the horn-driven rhythm delivers a whiplash with each line: "I think I'm in love/probably just hungry/I think I'm your friend/probably just lonely". Tune in, turn on and space out.

Kevin Courtney

Kevin Courtney

Kevin Courtney is an Irish Times journalist