Spiritual Machines is the fourth studio album by the Canadian alternative rock band Our Lady Peace, released by Columbia Records in December 2000. Although not initially intended, the project evolved into a conceptual interpretation of futurist and inventor Raymond Kurzweil's 1999 book The Age of Spiritual Machines. Short tracks of spoken dialog from Kurzweil himself are interspersed among the actual songs on the album. The Kurzweil K250 keyboard, one of his inventions, was utilized throughout the recording of the album.
The album was written and recorded in two months while the band was still on tour in support of their previous record, Happiness... Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch, which had only been released 14 months prior. A combination of lead singer-songwriter Raine Maida's prolific songwriting at the time and lead-guitarist Mike Turner's discovery of The Age of Spiritual Machines in a bookstore hurried the completion of the album. The band only took a break from recording to organize and perform at Summersault in 2000. Unlike their previous releases, this one features a more organic, acoustic sound, and less obvious layering and electronic texturing.
Spiritual Machines has been noted as being the end of an era for Our Lady Peace, as it was the last album produced by the band's longtime producer Arnold Lanni, the last to feature original guitarist Mike Turner in full, and the last studio album to feature art model Saul Fox (until 2021) on its cover. It was also the last album to feature Maida's high-falsetto singing voice prominently. The album peaked at number five in Canada, where it is certified double platinum.
In August 2020, the band announced that they would be releasing a direct sequel to the album, titled Spiritual Machines 2, which was released in 2022.
Background
While touring rigorously in support of Happiness... in mid-2000, Mike Turner came across The Age of Spiritual Machines, a 1999 book by inventor and futurist Ray Kurzweil. "I happened to be lucky enough to discover a really shiny book cover in a book store." Turner stated, "I wish I could say it was like, 'Well, I've been on this intellectual quest.' I picked it up, read it and went mental." Becoming fascinated by the futuristic ideology of the book, he proceeded to share it with the other band members, reading them passages on their tour bus over the next several months.
Lead singer Raine Maida first brought up the idea of a concept album after excerpts from the book began influencing his songwriting. Passing time on the road, he had amassed a backlog of songs and had begun to record demos. He jokingly suggested an album title of Kurzweil. "That was not the most graceful sounding name in the world, so we went with Spiritual Machines instead," Turner said. While the other band-members were less enthusiastic about the idea due to its weighty subject matter, Maida and Turner decided to pursue it and Turner contacted Ray Kurzweil via email to ask for permission to use the title of his book for their project. Kurzweil's excitement at the prospect prompted them to invite him to record spoken excerpts from his book for the album and a correspondence developed. Also unlike on their previous albums, this one was recorded sporadically piece by piece with songs being added as others were discarded.
By the time the band was set to perform at Summersault in August 2000, about eight songs, including "Life" and "Everyone's a Junkie", had been recorded as demos while the band was on the road touring. Guitarist Turner noted: "After we were done we brought them in for the record company to hear, with an eye to making plans for next year. They heard what we were doing and said, 'Well, let's finish the album you're working on.' And we thought, 'Album? We're just demoing.' But they told us what we had was great, so we went back into the studio with Arn[old Lanni] and did just that." Over the next two months, the band worked to complete the album with Arnold Lanni at Arnyard Studios in Toronto as well as Avatar Studios in New York City. Rumors had surfaced that, while in New York, Our Lady peace had dropped Lanni as producer to work with The Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan. These rumors were later debunked by Maida. In an August 2000 interview with Chartattack Raine revealed that a song titled "Yesterday" (later to become "Middle of Yesterday") was almost guaranteed to be the first single for Spiritual Machines. While he recovered, Taggart's friend Matt Cameron, former drummer for Soundgarden and current drummer for Pearl Jam, filled in for Taggart on the tracks "Right Behind You (Mafia)" and "Are You Sad?", which Taggart had already written the drum parts for. When the final tracks were ready for mixing, the band shopped around before finding a producer they wanted. The album was mixed in Atlanta, Georgia by Brendan O'Brien, Pearl Jam's long time producer. "It was an amazing experience working with Brendan, someone who immediately understood what we were trying to do and was able to capture exactly how we heard this album," noted Maida. and giving the technically inclined record an acoustic feel at times. According to Maida, half of the record was completed before the book and its ideas even entered the equation. During an interview in late 2001, he stated, "... even though it seems quite intrinsic to the record, really, it only represents about four or five songs." This is the case with the opening song, "Right Behind You (Mafia)", which Raine said, "..[is] not an 'f-you' to Kurzweil. It's like 'I believe [much of] what you're saying, but we're going to fight it as well because there is a soul and there is a spirit.'" Following "Mafia" is the song "In Repair", which muses on how the human body can be "repaired," whether through heart surgery or after an accident. This song is countered by the following track, "Life" which, explained Maida, "recognizes the pain our minds can experience."
During a 2001 interview with Gary Graff from Wall of Sound Magazine, Maida recounted the inspiration for the lyrics of "Are You Sad". He was in New York recording "In Repair" at the old Hit Factory studio, which was later known as Avatar Studios. Following those sessions, Maida attempted to call his younger brother from his hotel room but couldn't get through. "When you're making a record, you kind of go into hiding, especially when I'm writing lyrics or writing music; I tend not to keep in touch with any friends or family or stuff. But my brother and I have a good relationship, and I want to keep it good. I couldn't get a hold of him for, like, a week, and I knew he was going through a shitty time — typical young-20s, no job, having a tough life. I wanted to talk to him desperately, and this song just came out of me, "Are You Sad?" It came out really quickly on a shitty travel guitar". The meaning of "If You Believe" was revealed in a 2001 interview with Cleveland.com, "That song's about having an out-of-body experience and seeing that the afterlife is real," Maida confirms, "and telling people that there's something machines can't have, and we've got it.
Spiritual Machines concludes with the track "The Wonderful Future", which is one of the songs on the album that features minimal instrumentation. Raine explained that the song embraces the outcome of Kurzweil's future and accepts it as something new and exciting.
It is about a woman who builds her "own satellite from an old rusted chair" who will one day realize that a man of flesh and tears can satisfy her future. "That's one of my favourite songs, for that reason," said Maida. "That song's about building the perfect human – this cyber-human – and realizing that you can't really compete." For those who pre-ordered the album, a limited-edition version of the CD was released in a black jewel case in which the artwork was not visible, only the band's name and logo in embossed lettering. Spiritual Machines sold 36,394 copies in its debut week, and would sell a total of 100,000 units in the first month after its release, making it their fastest selling album to date. It went on to be certified 2× Platinum in Canada. As was common practice, the album was released several months later in the United States on March 13, 2001. In the United States, the album has yet to be certified by the RIAA. quickly fell off the charts shortly after its November 15, 2000 release. In Canada, the song peaked at number two on the Canadian Rock Radio charts while the music video eventually reached number one on the MuchMusic Countdown. The third and final single was "Right Behind You (Mafia)". By this time, Spiritual Machines was proving itself to be commercial failure in the States. The release of the single, set to be in June 2001,
Packaging
The band contacted local Toronto artist Oli Goldsmith who happened to be reading the same book, to create the artwork for the upcoming album. In total, he made around 200 paintings relating to the project, many of which were used for the album art, promotional singles and the band's website. Based on the success of that commission, the record label asked him to also create and direct music videos for the singles "In Repair" His artwork was described as "Integrating photographs, logos, television images, signs, as well as a variety of written forms, such as epigrams and poetry, Goldsmith's art juxtaposes the unexpected, resulting in pieces that are bold, colourful, and energetic." When the album insert is unfolded, it reveals a surrealistic panorama that appears to be set in a hospital. The official photo shoot for Spiritual Machines took place on October 7, 2000, on the sixth floor of St. Joseph's Health Centre in Toronto, formerly an intensive-care unit.