Jason Pierce has said in interviews that his sixth album is "the work of the Devil... with a little guidance from me." He even went as far as nicknaming the 1929 Gibson L/00 he wrote many of Songs in A&E on as "The Devil" in the liner notes. After all of the daemons Pierce has escaped he is one fortunate chap, but not as lucky as us - the listeners of his sixth disc as the frontman of Spiritualized. You see halfway through recording of A&E Pierce was struck down by advanced periorbital cellulitis and bilateral pneumonia. Yeah, its just as ridiculously nasty as it reads. In the summer of 2005, emaciated to the point of collapse and forced to move hospitals due to the 7/7 bombings, Pierce's body was certainly hovering in between worlds. Recovering from such an affliction makes for a triumphant personal story and the press have certainly gorged themselves on it.Pierce's backstory pales in comparison to the probing and largely garish-free album that gestated from his crippling stay at the Accident and Emergency Ward (hence the title). As Pierce is apt to do on his releases he conflates the spiritual (heavenly gospel chorals, violins) with the profane (drugged-out rocker laments) - treating both as equally conspicuous endeavors.The opening of Songs in A&E regulates itself to the the first category. 'Harmony 1 (Mellotron)' has the titular instrument emulating a opera singer. Its the first of six brief harmonic interludes (most are less than a minute). These curt but entrancing interludes serve as the withering backbone of A&E's doggedly triumphant tone. Tracks like the madrigal-tinged 'The Waves Crash In' and garage rocker 'Yeah Yeah' serve as bright counterpoints to A&E's shadowy moments on "Sitting on Fire' and 'Death Take Your Fiddle.' Both sound like deathbed songs. 'Fiddle' is a perfect example of Pierce's reawakened attention to subtlety - something he sadly lost in the symphonic fray that ensued after 2001's Let It Come Down. I'm pointing my finger at you Amazing Grace.'Death Take Your Fiddle' is a trenchant musical thesis that's sung in a craggy whisper. The druggy lyrics seem almost penitent for an recluse from suffering - ("Think I'll dream myself into a coma/ And I'll take every way out I can find / With morphine, codeine, whiskey, they won't alter/ The way I feel now death is not around".) Now all the CD's visual metaphor - intravenous-drip catheters laid out on a white background like little crucifixes - makes perfect sense. What sounds like an eerie respirator serves as the song's chilling centerpiece. It's actually an altered accordion surrounded by muted electric guitar and what pedal steel that sounds like a sonar pang bouncing off the inside of a cocoon. That heavenly chorus makes this scribble in a diary presciently beautiful. It's that kind of moment that makes the dejected lyrics ("So hard to fight when you're losing/ I got a little fire in my soul" ) on the skittering rock of 'I Gotta Fire' unflaggingly buoyant despite the undermining soul horns midway through. Likewise, the ready-to-love single 'Soul on Fire' could have been an inert and cloistered procedural but its unrestrained strings and Pierce's delivery make it one of A&E's more jubilant tracks.After 'Harmony 2 (Piano)''s stately piano interlude and the chiming sadness of 'Sitting On Fire' comes another jolt with garage rock hand-clap reverberations on "Yeah Yeah" and "You Lie You Cheat"'s Sonic Youth-like aural assault joined at the hip with those floating in place "woohs, oohs...oohs, oohs."The marimba-flecked 'Baby I'm Just A Fool' sees the former Spacemen 3 member bowing at the altar of Lou Reed a little too vociferously. Despite it feeling completely out of place it retains a breezy charm. The breakdown that's heralded by a clattering drum set during the last minute ends with a brilliant jazz flute one note solo. The latter portion of the album doesn't pale in comparison so much as it gives Pierce's compositions room to breathe. Even the scraping violin and light piano line for 'Harmony 4 (The Old Man)' crawls out to the 1:33 mark. 'Harmony 5' lets its accordion ditty stretch its feet out too. 'Don't Hold Me Close', is a tender duet with independent filmmaker Harmony Korine's wife, Rachel. Its a quietly charming organ lullaby wrapped in comforting electronic pings and cymbal fills.Despite taking us through the gamut of fears and hopes that someone in the midst of death's grasp might feel Pierce has one tiny chink in his musical armor - the ability to edit. The main culprit is the fitfully perfect junkie lament 'Borrowed Your Gun,.' Over forlorn violin Pierce sings, "Daddy I'm sorry" and reveals the calamitous drama of the song in a fairly protracted manner. Other songs could stand to be trimmed but the meaty bones that show give this album its identity. A&E's protagonist (possibly Pierce himself) is pervaded by harrowing tales and claustrophobic drug-addled musings. He desperately tries to grapple with a smidgen of of spiritual resonance nestled within it all. These are songs of hope, largely heard through subtle flourishes. The Devil is in Pierce's details and they've rarely sounded better. 80%[Download Spiritualized Songs In A&E]Links Spiritualized [myspace] [official site] [label] Video: 'Soul on Fire' - Spiritualized