Being young, “cool” and in an endlessly acclaimed experimental band is, at least for those with Lou Reed records in their collection, about as good as it gets. Starting a second band and remaining “cool” and endlessly acclaimed is, well … almost unheard of.

Don’t tell Jason “Spaceman” Pierce that. After ending his run with Spacemen 3 after nine or so years, the man now known simply as “Spaceman” picked up with some of his recording friends to form Spiritualized, quickly thereafter releasing an unapproachable (four songs, all very long) but drop-dead “cool” album called Lazer Guided Melodies. From there things only got better, hitting a peak in 1997 with what will likely go down as the Spaceman’s masterwork, Ladies and gentlemen we are floating in space.

Look at the 42-year-old Spaceman today — following on his excellent new album, Songs in A&E — and you’ll notice instantly that he’s still very “cool.” He struts his lanky frame around with a full head of moppy brown hair, tossing his wit with an apathetic expression. And why not? If you just made an 18-song epic as drenched with neo-psych bliss as Songs, you’d be strutting too.

But things aren’t as easy as the Spaceman’s hair implies. For starters, Pierce — plagued with a near fatal case of double pneumonia — almost never had the chance to finish his new long-labored epic, an album many are calling his second best work to date. Listen to the songs, specifically “Death take your fiddle,” and you’ll get it.