Jesu - Everyday I Get Closer to the Light From Which I Came

I have a few Jesu albums and, in all honestly, I struggle with all of them. I have the self-titled and Conqueror on cd and neither of them get that much play - they're long and hard work and I don't feel I get much out of them. Lifeline, however, is incredible and whenever I want some brooding showgaze, that record is where I go. Perhaps it's just that I can enjoy his music for shorter periods of time only.

Luckily, Everyday I Get Closer to the Light From Which I Came is a much shorter album. Sadly, it didn't come with a download code, so I've not listened to it as much as I'd like to have. I bought it on something of a whim one day in Banquet - they don't tend to get much stuff like this in, so I think that was a part of it. I think the fact it was only five songs long appealed to me too, given the above. Plus it's on coloured vinyl, which I'm a sucker for. I also find I'm willing to give bands chances beyond the normal limits if they've done at least something that I loved - Lifelines was that for me with Jesu.

It's a nice album - certainly more listenable than Jesu or Conqueror in my opinion. Homesick feels weak lyrically, but Comforter and the title-track are musically far more interesting than I've been used to from Justin. The lengthy The Great Leveller has a lot going for it too - a stretched out intro followed by the first heavy guitars in the album plus a string orchestra. The only thing I don't particularly care for is the hint of auto-tune in the vocals.

Format: 12"
Tracks: 5
Cost: £17 new
Bought: Banquet Records, Kingston
When: 25/01/14
Colour: Gray
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Jesu - Duchess / Veiled

The third 7" I bought in my three-for-a-tenner offer at the Matador Records stall of the Independent Label Market last year is this Jesu record. I've been a casual fan of Jesu for a few years now, picking up his records whenever I find them (which isn't all that often). I've largely not enjoyed them quite as much as I did his Lifeline EP, but I think I just started on a highlight. They have their moments, but I find that 70 minutes is more bleak showgaze than I can usually handle. I like it, just in smaller doses.

This 7" fits that bill quite nicely, and Veiled is an awesome song. It feels like more of a traditional rock song and it works. Duchess is a cover of The Stranglers, a song which I can't say I've heard the original of. Jesu's take feels more the b-side to Veiled's a-side, but that's just my take on it.

The Matador Singles Club looks like it's produced some pretty awesome records over the years, and they've done a pretty nice job on making them consistent - the cover is whatever the cover would be, but the reverse is always the Singles Club logo. The record itself is a very shocking-pink and has the witty phrase "Singles going home alone" written on the b-side (which works on many levels).

Format: 7"
Tracks: 2
Cost: £3.33 new
Bought: Independent Label Market
When: 13/07/13
Colour: Pink
Etching: none
mp3s: no

Jesu - Lifeline

This is a nice record. It was the third purchase in the Tuesday-record-from-Spillers year and I didn't really know a lot about Jesu at the time. I think I knew Justin Broadrick had been in Godflesh but Jesu's sound was more along the lines of heavy-ambient-showgaze, which sounded very appealing. As ever, the sticker on the front telling me about the colour vinyl enticed me further (the packaging here is lovely and the last photo shows what a great colour the record is).

Lifeline is definitely an EP rather than an album, but that does seem to be the format Justin works best with. I've since bought a couple of Jesu full-length albums and, whilst they have their moments, they're generally just too long and I get a little lost. Here though, the nice subtle parts don't disappear in a 70-minute sprawl and you're left with four great songs. Side A comprises the very slow title track and the comparatively heavier You Wear Their Masks. Jarboe's vocals on Storm Coming On are perfect (a song that sounds like it's actually going to make it storm) and allows the riff that starts End of the Road to bring you back to life. I can't think of another riff so slow yet so triumphant at the same time. End of the Road really closes the record brilliantly.

Jesu have a fairly lengthy back-catalogue and I probably spent too long seeking out their albums when the EPs seem to be where it's at (an opinion I've seen echoed across the internet). His records aren't the easiest to stumble across in record stores in the UK, and generally aren't cheap, but if the other EPs are as good as this they'll be worth it.


Format: 12", picture sleeve
Tracks: 4
Cost: £10.50
Bought: Spillers
When: 22/01/08
Colour: Gold with black splatter
Etching: none
mp3s: no