– Spiritualized – Live at Pitchfork Festival 2015, Paris – October 31, 2015 – Pitchfork –
Ending up the week with a set from Spiritualized at the 2015 Pitchfork Festival in Paris from 2015.
Spiritualized formed in 1990 in Rugby, Warwickshire, by Jason Pierce (often known as J. Spaceman), formerly of Spacemen 3. After several line up-changes, in 1999, the band centered on Pierce (vocals, guitar), Doggen Foster (guitar) and Kevin Bales (drums and percussion) with revolving bassists and keyboard players. The band’s current bassist, James Stelfox, has been playing with the band since 2012.
As of 2023, Spiritualized have released nine studio albums. The best known and most critically acclaimed of these is 1997’s Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, which NME magazine named as their Album of the Year, beating other critically acclaimed albums by fellow British bands such as OK Computer by Radiohead and Urban Hymns by The Verve.
After more than two years in the making, while Pierce was undergoing experimental chemotherapy for a liver disease, and including a year long period of mixing, Sweet Heart Sweet Light was released in April 2012, on Double Six Records and Fat Possum in North America. The band had already played some of this new material over the past 3 years but not much else was known about the content of the album. The album cover, an octagon surrounding the word “Huh?” on a plain white background, is a reference to the working title of the album. In an interview regarding the new release it was revealed that the album would “embrace” more poppy songs compared to previous albums. In the same interview, Jason Pierce also said that the album was partly inspired by the experiences of performing “Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space” live in its entirety. In 2013, Jeremy McMahan (Dirty Blood, C is for Cookie) was brought in to some sessions to play bass.
And Nothing Hurt is the band’s eighth studio album released on 7 September 2018 through Bella Union in the United Kingdom and Fat Possum Records in the United States, and is the band’s first album in six years. The album was announced on 11 June 2018, along with the release of the album’s first singles, “I’m Your Man” and “A Perfect Miracle” and was produced by Jason Pierce.
On 2 November 2021, the band announced their ninth studio album, Everything Was Beautiful, slated for release on 25 February 2022 through Bella Union/PIAS Recordings. The seven-track album was previewed by a single called “Always Together With You”, which is a reworked version of a song from 2014 which was originally heard in demo form. On 3 February 2022, the release date was delayed to 22 April 2022, due to manufacturing issues.
If you missed it the first time around, here’s a chance to check it out and hear what Spiritualized were up to in 2015.
