New Spiritualized Album On the Way?

Not known as a band with the speediest of work rates, Spiritualized lynchpin Jason Pierce has revealed the band's next album may be released as early as 2010 as well as claiming that the new work is inspired by none other than ... Spiritualized!

Speaking in an interview with the Quietus, Pierce said that his work on the newly re-mastered and expanded edition of his 1997 classic 'Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space' has influenced the direction of Spiritualized's current work in the studio.

He said: "It's very weird to lay out something you did 12 years ago in all its complexity and then get inside it enough to be able to play it live, and not have that get into some of the newer stuff we're doing.

"It's early days. We've put down some great, great songs ... I think what [listening to] 'Ladies and Gentlemen...' has done is raised the bar in a different way. Rather than just copying the sonics of that record and saying, 'How did we used to do it?' or,, 'We used to do it like this', it's raised the bar, and I think that's good."

When pressed on a possible release date for the new album -- the band's seventh studio effort -- Pierce answered in his characteristically vague style. "Um...when it's done. I can't answer questions like that, when it's done. But hopefully next year."

Spiritualized play 'Ladies and Gentlemen, We Are Floating in Space' in its entirety at the Manchester Apollo (Dec. 14) and London's Barbican Centre (Dec. 16 and 17).