Spiritualized

The Refectory, 10 October 2008 at 7.00pm
£17.25 (includes booking fee of £1.25 per ticket)

Following a major breakdown in relations between Spacemen 3 co-frontmen Peter Kember and Jason Pierce, the group's bassist Will Carruthers, drummer Jonny Mattock and guitarist Mark Refoy decided to form a splinter group, before persuading Pierce to join alongside local friend Steve Evans to create Spiritualized. The band took their name from an adaptation of the text on the back label of a bottle of Pernod. Due to formation from a majority of Spacemen 3 members, a technical clause meant that Spiritualized had to maintain the Spacemen 3 recording contract with Dedicated Records.

The first Spiritualized release, in 1990, was a cover of The Troggs' Anyway That You Want Me; the record heralded the official split of Spacemen 3 following contractual wrangles over the band's name and its use in Spiritualized-related promotional material

Evans was replaced on keyboards by Pierce's then-girlfriend Kate Radley for the follow-up single, Run/I Want You. A number of singles followed, before the band, in early 1992, released their first LP Lazer Guided Melodies, which had been recorded in Rugby over the previous two years. A second album, Pure Phase, was released in 1995, and a third Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space emerged in 1997 to notable critical acclaim and commercial success.

The musical style of Spiritualized relies heavily on sustained 'pedal' notes and drones. Lazer Guided Melodies and Pure Phase incorporate elements of the shoegazing style, drones and tremolo. The landmark Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space saw the influence of African-American gospel and blues beginning to show, while walls of sound modeled after the production styles of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson also made their presence felt. Such influences dominated Spiritualized's next album, Let It Come Down which included over 120 musicians. Amazing Grace favoured a more stripped down sound with the gospel, blues, and soul influences even more dominant than before.

After several years of work and a serious illness on Pierce's part in July 2005, the forthcoming Spiritualized album was completed in September 2007 and is scheduled for release this year.

For further information, see www.spiritualized.com