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.

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.

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.

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.

"[4] 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.

[5][6] Lead singer Raine Maida first brought up the idea of a concept album after excerpts from the book began influencing his songwriting.

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.

[10] Raine had made several vocal demos at his new home recording studio before the Spiritual Machines idea had come into play.

It wasn't like I said I wanted to be a producer or anything, it’s just that the demos I was making came closer to the finished product on one or two occasions, so now, I’m a producer.”[10] Jamie Edwards, who had helped record and tour for Happiness... was heavily utilized during the recording process and was becoming a big part of the band, considered by some to be the unofficial fifth member of the band at that time.

[13] 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.

Towards the end of recording Spiritual Machines, percussionist Jeremy Taggart suffered a serious ankle injury during a mugging while walking his dog.

[17] The songs for Spiritual Machines were written and partially recorded during a year in which the band was doing extensive touring of Canada, the United States, and Europe.

[21] 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.

[22] Spiritual Machines concludes with the track "The Wonderful Future", which is one of the songs on the album that features minimal instrumentation.

[23] 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.

[26] 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.

[39] The band contacted local Toronto artist Oli Goldsmith who happened to be reading the same book, to create the artwork for the upcoming album.

Based on the success of that commission, the record label asked him to also create and direct music videos for the singles "In Repair"[5] and "Right Behind You (Mafia)", which took his paintings and brought them to life with animation and stylized live motion.

[36][41] 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.

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.

[55][56][57] Selena Gomez of the University Star of Texas State University–San Marcos called the album incredible, but also pointed out that it was a commercial disaster due to it being "flighty and difficult to palate.

"[58] MacKenzie Wilson of Allmusic gave the album 4 out of 5 stars saying that "They can still deliver pinch-hitting licks and the brash attitude they did when they first formed in 1993, but they are a little older and a little wiser.

"[16] A review from the Hamilton Spectator noted that the album's concluding tracks "If You Believe" and "The Wonderful Future" demonstrated a particular facility for mixing sonic textures and that there were "actually moments when vocalist Raine Maida varies from his impersonation of a singing head cold.

noted that the album was packed with crisp, clean songwriting, odd searing post-grunge riffs and Raine Maida's nasal croon.

"[47] Eddie Fournier of The New Hampshire reviewed Spiritual Machines positively but said that "The spoken word sections are intriguing, but in a way, they detract from the overall strength of the album, breaking up the momentum created by the powerful 10 songs."

"[59] Cheryl Hunter of the Hartford Courant said that "It may sound formulaic, yet Maida's intelligent songwriting and nasally, but forthright vocals make Our Lady Peace more than just another faceless modern rock band.

"[60] Bartley Kives of Winnipeg Free Press gave the album 31⁄2 stars out of 5, saying that Our Lady Peace had finally gotten control of their sound and calling it "easily the finest thing they've ever created.

A cancer scare which turned out to be harmless caused bassist Duncan Coutts to miss six weeks of touring following the shoot for the "Life" video in February.

The live tracks were instead spread across various promos and singles and the band decided to record a full-length album, Gravity, with Rock.