Spiritualized – Soul On Fire

• 27th Jun 2008

‘Soul On Fire’ sees a somewhat grandiose single from Spiritualized. The opening strums of acoustic guitar, accompanied by Spaceman’s fragile vocals are incredibly reminiscent of Wilco at arguably their best period(2002’s Yankee Hotel Foxtrot), Spaceman almost emulating Jeff Tweedy’s gruff, yet textured and tortured yearnings.

As it breaks into the chorus it’s very easy to be reminded of the Verve, as a grand, illustrious, sweeping string section breaks in. Lyrics of “Baby, you never should say never” somewhat dampen the mood, and make the wishy-washy comparisons a bit too obvious to ignore. However, the level of production on the song, through both the chorus and the verse, is seamless; which ultimately helps the song glide through. However the production and instrumentation seem to overwhelm the actual content of the song, which is both not bad, and actually quite good, but it is somewhat underwhelming, but yet presented in a very overwhelming sense. A confusing statement perhaps, but as is the song. Imagine being given a chocolate, only to find upon biting into it, that it contains coffee in the middle; Bearable, but you were expecting more.

The B-side, a live Daniel Johnston cover ‘True Love Will Find You In The End’, is a nice touch, and is a sweet, gracious, and glowing cover. It offers no real fresh perspective on the original, but fulfils all the needs of a homage to an artist that is required.