The Covid pandemic’s various lockdowns may have been a living hell for some, but there were also plenty of people who thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to distance themselves from society. One of those to thrive during this time was Jason Pierce, band leader and the only constant member of psychedelic space rockers Spiritualized.
However, while the last Spiritualized album And Nothing Hurt was pretty much a solo affair, Everything Was Beautiful sees the pendulum swing to the other extreme. For, while Pearce may have played 16 different instruments during its recording – which took place in 11 different studios as well his own home – he also welcomed on board more than 30 other musicians and singers, string and brass sections, choirs, finger bells and even the chimes of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry to create a full-fat wall of sound flavoured by a plethora of influences.
“Always Together with You” may be a breathy, woozy love song but it is one that still manages to employ an orchestra, traditional electric rock instrumentation and a choir. “The A Song (Laid in your Arms)” sees Pierce and his confederates seriously let rip with a brassy tsunami of swirling sound that takes in free jazz, screeching saxophones and a general improvised chaos, all filtered through Spiritualized’s singular version of rock’n’roll. Elsewhere, there’s “Crazy”, a cowboy ballad with some atmospheric slide guitar. He even puts on his dancing shoes and lays down a solid groove that suggests the Velvet Underground trying their hand at Northern Soul on “Best Thing You Never Had” – and, somewhat against type, it really is hip-swinging and foot-stomping stuff.
Everything was Beautiful may be an unmistakably Spiritualized opus, but it’s also an album that suggests that Pierce took full advantage of the Covid-induced break to reinvigorate the band’s sound with a bucketload of new flavours.
