Space-rock, Dream Pop, Shoegaze Dedicated (1997)
Download Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space
For Listeners Of: My Bloody Valentine, The Cure, The Stone Roses, Radiohead, Blur, Beach Boys, Pop music in general
Though shoegaze is a fitting genre for this kind of sound, this album goes a bit deeper than just clouding a pop song behind layers of flanger and distortion, Spiritualized goes a step further. Gospel and blues play a large role in the songwriting, and the horns and harmonicas on certain tracks such as "Come Together" (not a Beatles cover) turn what would have been good songs into spectacles. One of the reasons that Ladies and Gentlemen is such a great album is that the album is extremely diverse while also being extremely focused. In other words, each track is a unique experience, while still maintaining an otherworldly, uniform sound.
Aside from the gospel and blues elements, as with anything related to shoegaze, this album gets pretty fucking noisy, usually to a stellar effect. Frontman Jason Pierce begins "All of My Thoughts" with the declaration "Don't know what to do by myself/ cause all of my time was with you" with instrumentation that is equally as somber. The direction of the song quickly changes as the bass begins its groove and the guitar fuzzes out of comprehension, reflecting that instead of letting these truths to depress him, they energize him almost to the point of spite.
The album and (near-perfect) title track begins with an eerie yet soothing announcement from keyboardist Kate Radley that names the album, and sums it up better than I can. Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space may be one of the most appropriately titled albums I've ever heard.
Key tracks: Title track, "Come Together", "Electricity", all of them really minus "The Individual"
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