Dull The Pain, Kill The Joy

Spiritualized “Come Together”

Is there anyone else who can self-flagellate with as much elegance, wit, and grandiosity as Jason Pierce? “Come Together” is a masterpiece of over-the-top self-loathing, a thunderous mass of shrieking guitars, blaring fanfare, and gospel bombast all at the service of a scathing lyric sung by Pierce in the first person, tearing himself apart for being a junkie. As always, Pierce’s vocals are a shell-shocked deadpan, but he can barely hold back his self-directed venom when he spits out lines like “Little J’s a fucking mess, but when he’s offered, he just says yes.” On other tracks from Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating In Space, the waves of sound are comforting and numbing, but in this, it pounds down on you, like he’s trying to beat some sense into himself. It’s futile, though — as the song tapers off and bleeds into the woozy opening section of “I Think I’m In Love,” it’s like slipping back into a stupor.

Buy it from Amazon.