LogFAQs > #956390351

95. Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space (1997)
from the album Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iB7E1D_3Na4

Key lyrics:
All I want in lifes a little bit of love to take the pain away

Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space starts simply enough. At first, Jason Pierce sings along to a low tempo take on Pachelbels Canon. But as he repeats this opening line, another version of his voice comes in singing Elvis Presleys Cant Help Falling in Love. The crinkling audio and a satellite beep suggest this second voice is an astronaut drifting in space. A wider array of instruments get added as we enter a third verse, where yet another voice is layered atop the others. The three vocals weave in and out of the forefront, helping form a dizzying, hypnotic experience. Buried deep beneath everything else is yet another verse which never takes the center stage.

The massive layering here conceptually sounds like it should create a cacophony. But due to its strong mixing, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space operates as a monolithic round. This is the rare song that captures the magic of The Beach Boys greatest hits, a wall of sound and human voices that works despite everything suggesting otherwise. Each layer is crisp enough that you can follow its trail deep inside, yet everything works better together.

Spiritualized are doing a lot more than showing off their technical capabilities. By combining baroque with classic rock and space age ambience, their choice of references suggests timelessness. This is not one love song but every love song at the same time. Sometimes, falling in love feels so immense that nothing can represent it alone. This song condenses all of time and space to suggest that love can be bigger than life.

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My top 100 games (with write-ups): https://foolfantastic.com/top-100-video-games-project/