Jason Pierce and his band Spiritualized blew most British bands off the stage with the 1997 epic Ladies And Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space, a masterfully lush, orchestrated mix of gospel, rock, and Britpop. One wondered whether the chemical indulgences so explicitly discussed in Pierce's songs would ever lead to diminishing returns, and that seemed to be the case on follow-ups Let It Come Down and Amazing Grace: both had their moments, but neither felt like a cohesive whole....

Colored by a near fatal bout with pneumonia and periorbital cellulitis, Jason Pierce's sixth release (and first since 2003) as Spiritualized covers well-tread ground in many ways. References to medication, God, pain and eidos are all present, but there's a sense of revitalization, too. ...

Keeping in mind that filmmaker Harmony Korine’s projects have been instigative, shocking, and generally uncomfortable cinema experiences, Mister Lonely’s subdued humanity and mute hopefulness might make it the oddest movie in his oeuvre. And to communicate, musically, the happy-sad story of a commune of celebrity imposters forced to come to terms with the selves they’ve kept buried, Korine tapped Spaceman 3 vet and Spiritualized frontman (coming to Austin soon!) Jason Pierce, a.k.a. J. Spaceman, and the odd-ball Arizona avant-rock group Sun City Girls to score the film. If you’re at all familiar with the Sun City Girls’ erratic, experimental output or Mr. Spaceman’s tendency toward bombast and symphonic overload, than the soundtrack to Mister Lonely should be a surprise for you – which makes perfect sense considering the restraint that Korine must have put on himself to make this film in the first place. ...