Skip to content
Facebook Instagram Twitter Youtube

psychedelic Scene

psychedelic Scene Magazine

  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Categories
    • Music
    • Lists
    • Books
    • Art
    • Columns
    • Science
    • Film
    • Podcasts
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Categories
    • Music
    • Lists
    • Books
    • Art
    • Columns
    • Science
    • Film
    • Podcasts
Navbar
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Categories
    • Music
    • Lists
    • Books
    • Art
    • Columns
    • Science
    • Film
    • Podcasts
  • Features
  • Interviews
  • Reviews
  • Categories
    • Music
    • Lists
    • Books
    • Art
    • Columns
    • Science
    • Film
    • Podcasts

The Psych Ward: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized

PrevPreviousThe Centrality of Set and Setting
NextPsychotropic Cinema: Altered StatesNext
  • William Faulk
  • November 17, 2023
  • 6:32 am

The Psych Ward: Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space by Spiritualized

Twenty-six years ago this summer, Spiritualized released what would arguably be their best work, Ladies and Gentlemen… We Are Floating in Space. The album has been on a myriad of “greatest (x) of all time” lists from high-profile publications during its now quarter-century lifespan, and the reason behind that is audible; it rocks, but we’re going to talk a little bit about deeper reasons why it’s stood the test of time. From open to close, this LP showcases extreme, energetic highs and dreary, broken lows that characterize the gradient spectrum apparent in this work between coping with heartbreak through drugs and fast-paced junkie love lust.

After the sort of overture-esque title track, “Ladies and Gentlemen… We Are Floating in Space”, Spiritualized knocks the pace of the album into some proper high-gear shit with “Come Together.” This song centers around vocalist Jason Pierce chanting about some heroin addict named Johnny with a gospel choir backing him over a righteous, bass-driven thrasher laden with screeches from harsh transitional guitar riffs and a horn section, and it leads perfectly into “I Think I’m in Love”.

The closing track to the album “Cop Shoot Cop” is a little masterpiece unto itself. Typically, songs this length come off as unjustifiably self-indulgent to me but, in this instance, the length is not just excused but welcomed due to the dichotomously smooth and explosive nature of the cut. The song encapsulates the concept of the album nicely, evidence of which lies in the title “Cop, Shoot, Cop”, the cycle of getting a drug, getting stoned, getting a drug, stoned, being trapped within that and reflecting the reason for it all off of the love experienced in a relationship, personifying the feeling. It’s clear underneath that thin veil when comparisons of absence are made to a desert and presence to a heaven you can’t be happy in, that the only thing being spoken of is heroin.

This album tears itself apart in the constant conflict between the infatuation of new relationships vs. the deep regret and spiritual void we can project onto losing the ones we love in separation. These themes alternate almost track to track on the setlist and it does so using the language of addiction. All comparisons to love and loss on this album are made with words that acknowledge the temporal nature of those feelings, creating a comparison of relationships with people like hits, beautiful in the brief moments after you shoot up and leaving you with intense withdrawal when those moments pass. The lyrics never offer up so much as a single question in the way of resolution for this back and forth, leaving the listener with the reality of how hopeless falling into cycles like this can feel.

Spiritualized attempts in this piece to reach out to the listener and talk about the struggle of addiction through the lens of an idea that almost anyone can relate to: love. Everyone in their lifetime experiences love and loss in one form or another, but an addict experiences it daily. Putting the listener in the shoes of this back-and-forth vapid lifestyle comes as close as anything to shouting something as nihilistic as Ladies and Gentlemen… We Are Floating in Space!

 

Related: The Psych Ward–Lazer Guided Melodies

The Top 100 Neo-Psychedelic Rock Albums

Gallery

Recent Articles

Silhouette image of a person in the lotus position in front of a cosmic vortex
Choosing Your Guide

Choosing Your Guide

•
May 15, 2025
Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders Release New Album Synchronous Orbit

Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders Release New Album Synchronous Orbit

•
May 12, 2025
Album cover for Electric Prunes' album Underground with vinyl record popping out of sleeve
Vinyl Relics: Underground by The Electric Prunes

Vinyl Relics: Underground by The Electric Prunes

•
May 9, 2025
PrevPreviousThe Centrality of Set and Setting
NextPsychotropic Cinema: Altered StatesNext
Loading...
  • Features

Choosing Your Guide

  • Stephan Kerby, Amber Kerby LMFT
  • May 15, 2025
  • No Comments
  • Music

Jeffrey Alexander + The Heavy Lidders Release New Album Synchronous Orbit

  • Allie Iverson
  • May 12, 2025
  • One Comment
  • Columns, Music, Vinyl Relics

Vinyl Relics: Underground by The Electric Prunes

  • Farmer John
  • May 9, 2025
  • No Comments
  • Acid Lore, Columns

Acid Lore: Mickey Mouse LSD

  • Paul Weatherhead
  • May 6, 2025
  • No Comments
  • Columns, Film

Psychotropic Cinema: Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

  • Jeff Broitman
  • May 3, 2025
  • No Comments
  • Music, Reviews

Evolution Now by Technicolor Blood–Album Review

  • Brian Cooper
  • April 28, 2025
  • No Comments

Gallery

Leave a Comment Cancel reply

Sign up for our Newsletter

Sign up for our mailing list to receive updates on trending stories, featured music articles, artist highlights and much more!

Contact Us

psychedelic Scene

Magazine

  • Home
    Home
  • About Us
    About Us
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Contact Us
    Contact Us
  • Art
    Art
  • Books
    Books
  • Music
    Music
  • Film
    Film
  • Interviews
    Interviews
  • Reviews
    Reviews
  • Lists
    Lists
  • Features
    Features
Copyright @ 2025 All Rights Reserved Psychedelic Scene Magazine

Designed & Developed by: SYNC Digital Management

psychedelic Scene

Magazine

Learn More About Psychedelic Sacred Sexuality

Buy The Book On Amazon