{"id":5844,"date":"2012-04-25T10:22:41","date_gmt":"2012-04-25T17:22:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/?p=5844"},"modified":"2012-04-25T10:23:01","modified_gmt":"2012-04-25T17:23:01","slug":"spiritualized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/2012\/04\/spiritualized\/","title":{"rendered":"SPIRITUALIZED"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/h1>\n

SPIRITUALIZED\u00a0<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Crossing continents in a quest to find the heart and see the light \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Jason \u201cJ. Spaceman\u201d Pierce,\u00a0frontman and guiding light of English rock band Spiritualized, adamantly disagrees with those who think music must follow rules. After all, he\u2019s been swirling rock, R&B, pop and more into richly textured sonic landscapes throughout his career. But there\u2019s one rule in which he believes fiercely: There\u2019s a delicate but real division between good music and bad music. \u201cThe difference between\u00a0Patsy Cline and god-awful barroom music is very, very slight,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s one reason he slaved for so long over Spiritualized\u2019s seventh and latest album, Sweet Heart Sweet Light<\/em>\u2014he wanted to make sure his band \u201ccomes down on the right side\u201d of that divide. A self-confessed obsessive, Pierce spent more than two years traveling around Wales, Los Angeles and Reykjavik to record with various players. Then he took another year to mix the record, all in anticipation of taking his show on the road again. \u201cI love touring,\u201d he says. \u201cI love the spirit nature of music when you play live. Night to night it changes. When you can tour no longer, you get the next album out.\u201d That\u2019s where the obsessiveness comes in. \u201cEvery time you do, it\u2019s like going into battle,\u201d he says. \u201cI forget it is a horror, blasted at you, just a nightmare at times.\u201d<\/p>\n

But the drive to create an album that encompasses \u201csome of what I get from the music I love\u201d overcame his resistance to ride back into battle. When he did head into the studio, Pierce modeled his ethic on musical heroes of the past who harbored lofty ambitions. \u201cSome of my favorite records are far-reaching, because people were reaching for the stars,\u201d says\u00a0Pierce, 46. \u201cThe list goes on and on.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perhaps it was a near-fatal bout of pneumonia he endured several years ago\u2014a topic he prefers not to discuss\u2014that prodded him to look backward for inspiration. To help prepare for making the new album, Pierce and company performed the entirety of Spiritualized\u2019s 1997 classic Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space<\/em> on the band\u2019s most recent tour. The experience reconnected him with the inspirations of his youth. \u201cI wanted to make one of those albums that embrace pop music and embrace melodies,\u201d\u00a0says Pierce. \u201cIt was a way of saying \u2018thank you\u2019 for that music.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013Nancy Dunham<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SPIRITUALIZED\u00a0 Crossing continents in a quest to find the heart and see the light \u00a0 Jason \u201cJ. Spaceman\u201d Pierce,\u00a0frontman and guiding light of English rock band Spiritualized, adamantly disagrees with those who think music must follow rules. After all, he\u2019s been swirling rock, R&B, pop and more into richly textured sonic landscapes throughout his career. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[3303,3515,10156],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5844"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5844"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5844\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5847,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5844\/revisions\/5847"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5844"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5844"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mmusicmag.com\/m\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5844"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}