Let me get this out of the way right off the bat: Justin Broadrick is almost literally a capital-G God to me. I'm not really capable of writing an unbiased review of anything he does because while i can find some flaws, he has never done anything I outright don't like.
Moving on though, the latest offering from his #2 project, Jesu came out last month, on my birthday no less, and what a fine gift it made. I have written about it numerous times in both small and large chunks, so it's kinda hard for me to organize a proper review, so I'm just going to give you a track-by-track rundown because that's actually my favorite way to talk about new albums.
Homesick: This is my favorite. It's a killer opener, but sometimes when I get hit with an opener that comes right in and blows me away, I fear for the rest of the album. That it might have shot it's load on #1 and the rest will be lackluster. That's not the case with this album, but it is indeed my personal favorite track at this stage in my understanding of the album.
I dig this traditionally "Jesuesque" weightless heaviness. Plodding, steady beat, but with a sort of "minor key uplifting" feel to the melody.
His voice has taken an interesting turn. Broadrick says that regulating his life a bit, giving up smoking and drinking have positively impacted his voice. There's also a theory I read about years ago that states the male voice reaches it's peak in the mid-40s. Well, he's getting there. He's better at holding down a melody and it seems like he's singing in a deeper voice that was always reserved for his totally visceral, uncontrolled screaming of the old days, but I was not aware that he could reach that with a clean style.
Comforter: Warped guitars, vocals that seem slightly off, I can't say I'm massively fond of this song but every Jesu album has a bum track or two for me. This is it. It doesn't seem to go anywhere and acts more as an interlude in the greater context of the album. If not for the structure of The Great Leveller, I would say it's poorly placed for an interlude, but it does balance things out.
Every Day I Get Closer to The Light From Which I Came: Iove the drums, love that undistorted bass. I love the warbly guitar line, it's a little reminiscent of that My Bloody Valentine style of warped sound that just sounds utterly wrong, but somehow pulls together to be right. The song sounds like some kind of lullaby, but a downtrodden, maybe slightly sinister one. Many bands have attempted to use this "fucked up child's toy" or music box vibe and make it sounds creepy, but it sounds cheesy and soulsucking in the bad way, without fail. Broadrick has talked about how this album revolves mostly around his new role as a father and the seeming existential crisis it brings. To my understanding, the joy and love of having a child, but the looming issue of mortality. I think this song really displays that collection of feelings.
Again, his vocals are really lovely. He is still no great singer, and his voice has been a point of contention among fans and detractors alike. Some love it, some hate it. I was on the fence until it dawned on me that Jesu is a very vulnerable project as opposed to the aggressively defensive aspect of Godflesh. The weak vocals make complete and utter sense and while his "clean" voice is growing stronger, it is not losing and of that vulnerability that is so important to the overall feel of Jesu.
The Great Leveller: Get ready for the big one, this bugger is 17 and a half minutes long. But shouldn't we all be used to that by now? The man is only limited by how much sound he can cram onto one side of a record. Remember Infinity where he broke a single song in two? 17 minutes is child's play. And those strings you hear? They're all real, performed by Nicola Manzan. No programming here.
Then suddenly, WHAM we are back in the early days. Plodding, heavy, distorted. It slowly comes back around to a more gentle, hypnotic approach and builds back up into a heavier, extended outro. I enjoy this track more each time I hear it, especially when I can give it my full attention. There's a lot of movement going on in the sound, swirling, shifting around and whatnot. It may be long and repetitive (when are Jesu NOT long and repetitive?), but it's never boring and you can lose a lot of time listening to this track. I suggest setting your kitchen timer.
Grey is The Color: This is very reminiscent of The Cure, if The Cure were nodding out while playing or something. I'm inclined to say anything with that particular guitar tone sounds like The Cure though, so don't mind me. This is an odd track, it seems almost like an afterthought at first, then it jumps into this lovely, epic yet low-key anthem-like second half which slows down only slightly and then just... ends. I've had plenty of time to let this album sink in, yet this instrumental track takes me by surprise every time. It's a perfect way to end the album.
Give my pick from the album a spin and decide for yourself. While doing so, you can watch Justin sit dejectedly in the woods.
Broadrick's last few offerings via Jesu have been a bit too derivative of his influences (almost purely Mark Kozelek, whose label the Jesu albums were released on) for my taste. Opiate Sun is gorgeous and I listen to it frequently with total adoration, but he seemed to be losing touch with his own "brand" if you will by the time Ascension rolled out. It's good to hear this project back in form yet still growing and morphing and honing in on it's unknowable central nugget of style.
Jesu albums are always slow to grow on me and it actually took YEARS for me to get a grasp on the project at all. This is by no means a negative attribute though because it gives the listener something to gnaw on for a good long time.
Every Day I Get Closer To The Light From Which I Came is a good album that I think will eventually reveal it's greatness to the listener if said listener is patient and gives it a chance to wrap itself around their mind. There's nothing passive about ol' JKB's music. It demands that you actively immerse yourself in it and let it do what it wants with you.
Visit Justin's various websites here:
http://www.avalancheinc.co.uk/
http://justinkbroadrick.blogspot.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Justin-K-Broadrick/
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| Ha ha very funny. |
