Jesu and Sun Kil Moon- Jesu and Sun Kil Moon (2016)

Jesu and Sun Kil Moon- Jesu and Sun Kil Moon (2016)

By: Ghost Writer

You can rightfully call Jesu music "shoegaze", although I have never liked the term, but you can't simply deny the heavy narcoleptic effects of the music, but it is Justin Broadrick's Sabbath inspired guitar which definitely makes the difference, turning the genre hallucinating nature, into a shocking hazy cold nightmare.

Obviously this joint venture between Jesu and Sun Kil Moon is quite a singular affair, although Broadrick's Tony Iommi inspired guitar is omnipresent all along the record, Broadrick's whispering voice is absent, and is Sun Kil Moon's main man Mark Kozelek, who takes the lead on the mix, is a certain disorienting element which at times results amusing, and at other times simply monotone, but of course this is a monotonous affair, it's main goal is to create a certain trance like effect on the listener, and in that way, it succeeds, as it sorts of reminds me of Slint, but with heavier guitars.

Good Morning My Love is the sort of stuff that Lou Reed used to do lyrically, or what the Norwegian Karl Ove Knausgard does on his wonderful books, they basically tell you about their lives in meticulous detail, but on Carondelet is Broadrick who takes us by surprise with his venomous guitars, while Kozelek voices captures perfectly a certain fragility in clear contrast with the raucous guitars, but this curious dynamic simply works wonders.

The beautiful music on A Song of Shadows is pure Jesu, augmented of course by Kozelek superb storytelling and Sonic Youth's drummer Steve Shelley, but after that the record takes a weird spin, guitars back up a bit and on Last Night I Rocked the Room like Elvis and Had them Laughing like Richard Pryor Kozelek goes for a more simplistic programmed drum machine accompaniment and minimal nostalgic keyboards, the fully acoustic Fragile, and the icy electronica of Father's Day with its resounding guitars and fat electro bass.

Yes, this delicious recording has some other surprises here and there, but I stay with Sally, another gorgeous story with storming guitar fury, and Kozelek commanding singing that at this moment easily fights Broadrick muscled guitars for the spotlight, what a great experience is to listen to such a colossal meetings of two musical monsters only strengthened by the power of each other, this is the best we have heard from this two musicians in a long time.