Jesu - Why Are We Not Perfect

Jesu . Why Are We Not Perfect EP. 2008. 3.5 stars .

Yet another Jesu release, though this latest EP is actually just a collection of Justin Broadrick’s contributions to the Jesu/Eluvium vinyl split they put out last year. Consisting of three full songs and two remixes, "Why Are We Not Perfect" sees Broadrick going deeper into the shoegaze territory he has mapped out before, scaling back on the crushing guitar drones for dreamy ambiance and refined digital percussion. His vocal presence is also more prominent, with soft speak-singing gliding across the slow-moving psychedelic haze. Broadrick often sounds like a dead ringer for Trent Reznor on these tracks, with his calm and drifting style conveying the same sad detachment found on "Hurt" and "The Day the World Went Away".

We are certainly seeing more of the blissful side of Jesu here, as the omnipresent sludge of "Friends are Evil" or "Old Year" is no where to found on this disc. While this may upset some purists longing for the good old days of Godflesh or even the first Jesu album, keep Justin Broadrick’s prolificness in mind. He has put out more material in the last 5 years than most bands can create in a decade, so his catalog is bound to diverge in many different directions, broadening the scope of his song craft. As a hybrid between doom and ambient styles, Why Are We Not Perfect works really well despite its reluctance to push the envelope any further from where Jesu has already been. It is deeply relaxing to listen to, an odd thing considering the crushing heaviness of Jesu’s more industrial sounding material. Very cool and well produced, though I’ll be more likely to listen to Conquerer or the Silver EP for my next Jesu fix.

Digg!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 27th, 2008 at 11:06 am and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.