Our Lady Peace
Spiritual Machines
(Columbia)
By: Jeff Leisawitz - ModernRock.com
The post grunge scene of the mid-nineties spawned about ten thousand hard rockin' bands that boasted high decibel performance coupled with angst ridden lyrics and plenty of attitude. Of course, nearly all of them dropped out or died off by the end of the decade. But one band— from Canada no less— managed to defy convention from the start. The band is Our Lady Peace.
Although this quartet rose through the ranks in the aftermath of the grunge heyday, this group's attitude, more than anything else, set them apart from their peers. Instead of bitching and moaning about the tragedies of life, OLP has always been guided by the quest for higher understanding and killer guitar riffs. So it's really no wonder that their fifth full length CD, Spiritual Machines, draws together the wisdom of rock with the promise of a technological, spiritual destiny.
It just so happens that singer Raine Maida was deep into a book by Ray Kurzweil, The Age of Spiritual Machines – When Computers Exceed Human Intelligence, as this album was being written and recorded. The text delves into a probable future where humans and computers fuse consciousness into a new life form. The songs are full of rock hot beats, burning guitar fire, thunder bass-lines and unanswered questions.
Songs like the brilliant first single, "Life," question the very building blocks of our experience. "How many times have your friends let you down?/ Is anybody there?/ How many times has your faith slipped?" These are not empty questions. Maida wants you to think about it and feel the answers at the base of your soul.
Other tracks like "Are You Sad?" continue to move further into the internal realm but most songs here are outward expressions of a restless spirit. "Right Behind You," Middle of Yesterday," and "R.K. 2029" keep the tempos flying high while injecting the heavy thoughts into the swelling grooves.
With spoken word samples of Ray Kurzweil reading excerpts from the text, Spiritual Machines holds itself together with a clear focus and musical direction. If you want to fully engage the brain cell, pick up the book (it's amazing, Kurzweil is a genius). If you'd prefer to get down with a bunch of spiritual rockers, by all means spin the disc. Either way your soul will be stirred.
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