Jason Pierce's two-decade career as a member of Spacemen 3 and absolute dictator of Spiritualized's ever-revolving cast have left the man a strange combination of musical master and utterly exhausted man-child. As a producer he almost always impresses: choirs, strings, and horns, but he is equally adept with spacey guitar and keyboard effects, and here there are endless variations on grittier, distorted sounds, often working in tandem with the sweeter elements. The problem with much of Songs in A & E is the lyrics. Pierce continues to plunder ages-old rock, blues, and soul tropes, but is no longer able to twist them into nakedly touching—much less incisive—statements, cleverness and emotional clarity both having been lost somewhere along the way since 2003's Amazing Grace. A nearly fatal bout of pneumonia a couple years back has certainly left an impression on him, contributing to the album's most lyrically focused song (and its lost in translation album title—A & E is

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