Spiritualized — Songs In A&E

Spiritualized frontman Jason Pierce confronts his own mortality on Songs In A&E. The album was five years in the making, in part due to Pierce's deathbed fight with double pneumonia in 2005. That brush with the end adds a whole new level to an already epic musical palette characterized by buzzing guitars, soaring strings and big harmonies. Deep, mechanical breaths uncomfortably (and fittingly) accompany Pierce's cracked and intimate confessional "Death Take Your Fiddle." It's surely one of the most moving things he's ever done, but it's far from the only evocative moment. When Pierce warbles that it's "so hard to fight when you're losing" on "Sitting On Fire" before moody strings puncture deep into the song, you genuinely fear that this is the sound of a man that was this close to giving up. It's definitely an intense listen that requires some bravery to get through, but the experience is worth it.

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