Easily one of the pioneers of modern experimental rock/pop, and reputably claimed by some fans as trailblazers of the indie rock movement as a whole, Spiritualized return with an epic new album – Everything Was Beautiful – the band’s most sprawling release to date.
J Spaceman’s latest opus is gloriously satisfying and self-referential, refining his orchestral space rock with alchemical power.
Through sheer force of habit, sailing un-buffeted and serene through the winds of musical fashion, Spiritualized have reached their fourth decade as a paragon of musical constancy. Everything Was Beautiful, their ninth studio album, calls back to many of the band’s habitual influences: The Stooges, gospel, blues, free jazz, the Rolling Stones, et al., which the band finesses into a hypnotic mixture, capable of both savage intensity and benzodiazepine drift. More than anything, though, Everything Was Beautiful refers back to the band’s own gilded history—which would be a problem if they didn’t do it so shamelessly well.
While recording Everything Was Beautiful, Jason Pierce, once again operating under the J Spaceman moniker he has used periodically since his Spacemen 3 days, called on lessons learned when mixing Spiritualized’s classic third album, 1997’s ‘Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space,’ notably the power of carefully constructed layers. The two albums share a spellbinding mixture of astral ambience, artfully tailored musical density, and occasionally sharpened live fury, as well as an emotional depth not always evident in the band’s more glazed-out moments.
From Bandcamp supporters:
Akira Watts “Everything just sort of comes together here and it’s close to perfect. I don’t think Spiritualized can make a bad album, but this one is very easily among their best. Comforting and joyful and exactly what I needed to hear. Favorite track: The A Song (Laid In Your Arms).”
marc_ian: “This is better than any preceding Spiritualized or Spacemen 3 record. Lush, pretty, catchy and a top notch trip. Favorite track: Let It Bleed (For Iggy).”
Under The Radar: (90)
“There is immensely evident craftsmanship that runs through the album, and a newly revitalized soul that, for all its beauty, And Nothing Hurt missed. If it turns out that Everything Was Beautiful is the last Spiritualized project we ever get, it is an unexpected gift that lives up to the best of Jason Pierce’s storied career.”
AllMusic (90):
Everything Was Beautiful is delirious and exciting, a perfect distilment of the best parts of the band’s various phases that feels reinvigorated and new.
The Telegraph (80)
You don’t need to be in an altered state to become overwhelmed by his mastery of controlled cacophony. It is a pleasure to report that everything is still beautiful in Pierce’s strange sonic world.
Glide Magazine (80)
“‘Everything Was Beautiful’ pulls heavily from throughout the Spiritualized catalog, whether it be the Ladies and Gentlemen-era “Best Thing You Ever Had”, the soft, sentimentality of Pierce’s mid-career work on “Crazy” or the lush balance of And Nothing. All those influences, and their tonal similarities to his last album, never distract or take away from the conceptual success of ‘Everything Was Beautiful.'”