Spiritualized - Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space

Put Your Sweet Hand in Mine

Only philosophers embark on this perilous expedition to the outermost reaches of language and existence. Some of them fall off, but others cling on desperately and yell at the people nestling deep in the snug softness, stuffing themselves with delicious food and drink. ‘Ladies and Gentlemen,’ they yell, ‘we are floating in space!’ But none of the people down there care.

-Jostein Gaarder, Sophie’s World, 1991

1. This is all absurdly improbable - not impossible because well, we’re all here - but it’s mind-bogglingly absurd. We are meat bundles powered by electric impulse from our brains which remains the only organ to name itself. We exist on a rotating mass of rock and iron that orbits a nuclear fusion reactor in a completely unknowable universe with more stars in it than all the grains of sand on this planet. And yet, we persist. That two people could meet and fall in love in this wildly improbable existence may actually be proof of miracles. Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space is a soundtrack for lovesick astronauts who aim for the cosmos but find peace of mind in the present moment, here and now, with what’s in front of them. It’s not a stretch to contain hopes and dreams for exploring the cosmos while also recognizing a transcendent pull to that which fulfills us on terra firma. This track is the score of an existential crisis, a testimony to love everlasting, and to the moment of epiphany when one realizes that while there is so much more we can never understand wholly, we can celebrate our existence precisely because it’s so rare. Spiritualized announced a cosmic cocktail party, and all the aliens, cocktails in hand, said “These Earthlings might finally be onto something.” It’s funny how a song about floating in space can make one feel so grounded.

2. These swirling guitars, lush orchestration, and gospel choir lift us to another plane of existence. They also remind us that while there is so much unexplored, we’ve still managed some remarkably beautiful things in this place and time. Similar in most respects to Christopher Nolan’s film Interstellar, Ladies and Gentlemen… finds us considering the sheer vastness of space and the fragility of human existence while also declaring love to be a universal conduit - an ineffable force that binds and unites across time and space. Both works of art tell us life is short, the universe is vast, and we’re all specks in the grand cosmic drama. The only conclusion we’re left to draw is to enjoy the ride, even if we get hopelessly lost along the way.

   All I want in life's a little bit of love
   To take the pain away
   Getting strong today
   A giant step each day

   -Spiritualized, Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space

   3. Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space evokes a range of emotions and transports listeners to a transcendent state and that speaks to the timeless and universal appeal of the song. Radiohead fans, and they are legion, will argue on behalf of OK Computer (as they should), but Ladies and Gentlemen… is the true heir apparent to Dark Side of the Moon. It’s a hypnotic headphone masterwork, and a mediation on the human lifecycle, except Spiritualized is more in tune with matters of the heart than Pink Floyd (perpetual psychonauts they are) could ever hope to be. Whereas Floyd was always too afraid to discuss love in plain terms, Spiritualized fully embraced it, going so far as to call on the classic Elvis torch song Can’t Help Falling in Love to aid them in their quest.

   Like a river flows
   Surely to the sea
   Darling, so it goes
   Some things, you know, are meant to be

   -Elvis, Can’t Help Falling in Love

   Few things can break gravity’s pull, few things are that potent, that powerful. As much as I want to believe I’m sophisticated, I’m a simpler creature tied to simpler rhythms and joys. As inspired as I am by the stars and the galaxies, by the boundless possibilities, as tied as I am to the ancient Greeks who stood on a hill and described constellations’ meanings, and as awestruck I am by the fearless explorers who strapped themselves to a rocket into orbit, I have to believe there are simpler purposes. I’m bound to believe love is chief among them.