Singer/guitarist Jason Pierce formed his group Spiritualized from the ashes of trance-rockers Spacemen 3, combining his prior band's trademark hypnotic minimalism with uplifting atmospheric lightness that reached a peak with their 1997 classic Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space and the 2001 international chart success Let It Come Down. With extended gaps between releases, Spiritualized continued into the 2010s with Sweet Heart, Sweet Light and And Nothing Hurt.
Influenced by the Velvet Underground, La Monte Young, and Steve Reich, Spiritualized staked out a common ground between minimalism and lush symphonics. While powered by simple, repetitious motifs, their songs simultaneously blossomed into rich, shimmering sonic panoramas inspired by the majestic studio wizardry of Phil Spector and Brian Wilson. Their very name acknowledged the existence of other forces, further reflected in their heavy debt to gospel and soul music as well as an affinity for mantras and devotional hymns.
