After battling pneumonia for nearly six months, Spiritualized mainman Jason Pierce felt lost. Before he went into the hospital, he'd laid down a good chunk of what would eventually become his sixth album, but finishing it proved a challenge. "It's very difficult to work on something again that you didn't intend to," Pierce says. "It didn't seem contemporary anymore. Not musically, but where I was in my life."

That changed once he met filmmaker Harmony Korine ("Kids," "Julien Donkey-Boy") at a Daniel Johnston show in London. Backstage, Pierce and Korine struck up a conversation-and a friendship-that would lead Pierce back into the studio to work on the score for Korine's next film, "Mr. Lonely."

"I was completely lost when I came out, and I had this record that sounded like a collection of songs that made no sense," Pierce says. "By working on his record, which is just about sound and atmospheres, it put me in a place where it bled into my record."

Meanwhile, due this week via Fontana/Universal is "Songs in A&E." He's always been a firm believer in questioning human relationships, alongside the entanglements of love, religion and death. But the music here reflects a less abrasive Spiritualized --feedback and heavy reverb have been replaced with softer arrangements, highlighting violins and acoustic guitars, ultimately casting Pierce's voice in an almost angelic-sounding warmth.