British trance-rocker and Spiritualized frontman Jason Pierce nearly died in 2005 because of - get this - pneumonia. Go figure. When you've had addiction problems with heroin, landing in the accident and emergency (A&E) ward because of respiratory complications is kind of like tiptoeing through a minefield only to contract tetanus from a rusty nail. Irony aside, the near-death experience yielded "Songs in A&E," a rock 'n' roll record that could very easily be confused for an electric requiem.
In more than 18 new tracks, Pierce plays up the dichotomy between life and death, good and evil, heaven and hell. He's got a devil perched on one shoulder prodding the guardian angel on the other. So for every choir-whispered hymnal reading like "Sweet Talk," there's a wild-eyed blues stomper to ward off any lingering traces of good karma.
This might seem an ill-advised arrangement given the man's intimate relationship with mortality, but at least the music doesn't suffer for it. In fact, if not for the feverish blitz of the devil-may-care numbers, Pierce would risk a catatonic relapse.
A firecracker at the heart of the album, "Yeah Yeah" keeps pace, as it transforms gospel into an agitated, bad-moon-rising hoedown. With indecipherable lyrics, an amen-influenced chorus and hand claps galore, it has all the necessary elements to score a Jeremiah Wright sermon.
Pierce must be familiar with the notion that sporadic highs inevitably invite comedowns, and yet he can't mitigate post-rave up crashes. The ballads and "Harmony" interludes, if not bereft of tune or melody, unfold aimlessly and in a glazed-over haze.
"Soul on Fire," though, shows no signs of withdrawal. The soaring single resembles late period Flaming Lips - "Do You Realize??" transformed by Pierce's Marlboro croak and bolstered by a celestial symphonic army.
It all conjures some kind of heavenly caricature, complete with white light, ethereal choirs and an unsettling blandness that prompts the inescapable question: So this is it?
