Our Lady Peace
Spiritual Machines
Columbia
Rating: 3 Flaming Goat Heads
Spiritual Machines' arrangements are less dense and provide more of a vibe than the all-out auditory attacks of previous Our Lady Peace albums, where the band's over-instrumentation often bewildered passive listeners. Still based in strong songwriting and impressive musicianship, Our Lady Peace again delivers intricately crafted Canadian pop that most listeners either love or hate, mostly because of singer Raine Maida's uncommon falsetto outbursts. Retorting to the writings of Ray Kurzweil - who extensively preached the inevitability of mankind's takeover by machines - Raine explores the resilience of the human soul as well as the complexity of the human mind, but fails to convincingly argue his retaliatory case. With recording deadlines pressing, OLP drummer and recent beating victim Jeremy Taggart passed the baton to Pearl Jam's Matt Cameron (ex-Soundgarden) for two songs (Taggart's attack had rendered his bass drum ankle temporarily fickle); the transition is seamless. Spiritual Machines does not contain the breakthrough hit single that has eluded Our Lady Peace ever since "Starseed" introduced them to the industry, thus reducing the appeal of this album to those whose taste for Our Lady Peace has already been developed.-Cliff Frantz
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