And Nothing Hurt

From the opening lullaby of 'A Perfect Miracle' through to the fading Morse Code at the close of 'Sail on Through', Spiritualized wrap layer upon layer of gloriously

transcendent sound together to create a mesmerising and cinematic collection of songs.

There are points - the thunderous climax of 'On the Sunshine'; the spectral waltz of 'The Prize'; the towering guitar solo on 'I'm Your Man' - where the waves of

blissful noise are almost overwhelming, where one can imagine the studio's speakers vibrating themselves off of the walls. Which is an incredible feat when you discover that the album was conceived and recorded almost entirely by one man - Jason Pierce, AKA J. Spaceman - in an upstairs room in his east London home. "Making this record on my own sent me more mad than anything I've done before. We'd been playing these big shows and I really wanted to capture that sound we were making but, without the funds to do, I had to find a way to work within the constraints of what money I had. So I bought a laptop and made it all in a little room in my house."

For the listener, the nine tracks on 'And Nothing Hurt' effortlessly replicate the scale and power of Spiritualized's previous releases, whether it's the sonic

blowback of 'On the Sunshine', the last dime in the jukebox love letter of 'Let's Dance' or the swell of an imaginary orchestra that seems to lift 'Damaged ' towards the heavens as it plays out. Lyrically, And Nothing Hurt touches on thoughts of passing time and acceptance of one's age - never more beautifully than on 'Let's Dance'. "I didn't want to be fighting against my age; it's very much about acceptance. And not with any dissatisfaction either - I'm not raging against the inevitable. I spent a lot of time thinking about the way that the songs should hold together, trying to make the narratives make sense rather than just throwing together a couple of lines that

rhymed." During the making of And Nothing Hurt, Jason kept returning to the thought that this would be the last Spiritualized record - but maybe... just maybe... this next

set will encourage Jason to flip open the laptop to press record again. Here's hoping.