Pitchfork

Photo by William Kirk

Mister Lonely tells the tale of a young drifter who gets his kicks impersonating Michael Jackson. This ersatz King of Pop stumbles into a community of like-minded mimics-- everyone from Marilyn Monroe, Charlie Chaplin, Shirley Temple, Madonna, and the Three Stooges to Abe Lincoln, the Pope, and the Queen of England. Sounds like a total trip, so who better to soundtrack it than a guy who's made a 25+ year career out of otherworldly audio excursions?

Enter J. Spaceman (aka Jason Pierce) of Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 fame, whose compositions from the cosmos make up a fair part of the score to the film, the latest from controversial director Harmony Korine (Kids, Gummo, Julien Donkey-Boy).

Mister Lonely made the festival rounds last year, while a soundtrack release is on the way via Drag City, according to the Spiritualized website. Sun City Girls feature on it as well, according to Drag City.

The film itself, boasting a cast that includes Samantha Morton, revered director Werner Herzog, and magic guy David Blaine, should see wider release this year.

And that new Spiritualized album we were supposed to see last year? J. Spaceman explains all in his latest website dispatch: "We've been sittin' on a finished (and mastered) record here for months now while Universal try to sort out their shit[.] so with luck it should be resolved early this year and you can have it."

J. also alludes to a couple final Acoustic Mainlines gigs in the coming months (nothing confirmed as of yet), and "after that we're going electric." (!) The shows just might take place in "Vancouver down to Palm Springs in a few months." Hmm... Palm Springs in a few months... Coachella anyone?

Finally, Mr. Pierce has collaborated with free jazz guy Matthew Shipp on an upcoming release, titled, yes, Spaceshipp, on the UK's Treader imprint.