Spiritualized -‘Sweet heart, sweet light.’ (Double Six/Domino)

Ah, J. Spaceman. We have been expecting you. Again. And once more the latest album from Spiritualized does not disappoint.

It’s now twenty years since their debut Lazer Glided Melodies and fifteen since the draw-dropping Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, their seventh album shows Jason Pierce and his team continuing to brew up a heady mix of avant rock, jazz, gospel, soul and God knows what else. It’s marvellous.

Over the last two months, the single ‘Hey Jane’ (available at the bottom of this page) has delighted as a song and raised eyebrows with that video. It’s an album highlight, but the good news is that it’s not another ten facsimiles of that song. The themes of someone searching salvation and trying to find answers continue and the audio confection on display as ever is one that there is much enjoyment ahead to be had just listening to all and digesting each little bit.

The final two tracks ‘Life Is a Problem’ and ‘So Long You Pretty Thing’ take the album out on a high. There is so much soul-searching that goes on in music and most of it is pretty tiresome. But lyrically, musically, track by track and as a whole package, Spiritualized eneter their thrid decade as a band never less than compelling.

****1/2

Sweet heart, sweet light is out on April 16 on Double Six/Domino.