God bless J. Spaceman, the sad, wounded warrior of classic rock clichés. Few people in music are as fidgety and relentless as he is, passionately aiming for the cheap seats while peppering each song with layer after layer of both stunning harmony and scuzzy noise.
Spaceman’s seventh release under the moniker Spiritualized, Sweet Heart Sweet Light is a record of splendidly sad Phil Spector-isms that unfurls wonderfully in your headphones. It harkens back to 1997’s critically lauded Ladies and Gentleman We Are Floating in Space without shamelessly covering the same ground, fitfully existing in an alternate reality where John Lennon and Wayne Coyne are spinning records together at Syd Barrett’s tricked-out birthday party.
Yet, Spaceman’s message, as it seemingly always has been, is of pulverizing sorrow. Here, he sounds sadder than ever, pleading for Jesus to save him from “the long way home” in a moan over strings, chiming guitar and a gamut of shimmering, psychedelic effects.
The trifecta of tracks making up the middle part of the record – the thick organ and Oasis-like snarl of “Get What You Deserve,” the magnificent string flourishes of “Too Late” and the distorted krautrock of “Headin’ for the Top Now” – perhaps best display Spaceman’s contrast between utter solemnity and euphoric, heavenly melodies. Everything is gigantic and unrelentingly over the top, with Spaceman effortlessly embracing his musical clichés without fear of sounding overblown.
At times, however, he pushes the envelope too far. Album closer and partial duet with his 11-year-old daughter, “So Long You Pretty Thing,” is too much. Beginning as a lullaby about a “scary Jesus,” before morphing into a drippy, tear-pining tune backed by a banjo and, of course, lots and lots of strings, guitars and gospel-tinged vocals, “So Long You Pretty Thing,” is way more laughably goofy than anything else on Sweet Heart Sweet Light. At least Spaceman stuck it at the end of the record; a seven-hanky song would throw off the album’s solid, three-hanky dynamic if it were sandwiched more toward the middle of the track list.
To say Sweet Heart Sweet Light is worth your time is both an understatement and an overstatement. Overall, it’s a great record of grand, sweeping melodies and meticulous production deserving of attention. It’s also very long (59 minutes and 40 seconds) and requires an immense amount of patience, which is sometimes hard to conjure.
Yet in spurts, and I’m talking a few tracks at a time, you’ll be hard-pressed to find an album that sounds this good all summer.
VERDICT: Sweet Heart Sweet Light is a gloriously excessive record of inspired Phil Spector-isms.
essner@umdbk.com
