Jesu – Lifeline (2007)

December 16, 2012

This is the first Jesu record I heard and it is still probably one of my favourite releases by him. It also introduced me to Jarboe, which opened up a whole can of worms in my life in the form of Swans (another very long story for another day), who appears here as a special guest, not to mention as a precursor to the pair’s collaboration album that would follow. Lifeline was released on the now sadly dying Hydra Head Records, who handled all CD and vinyl presses. As well as the black pressing you’ve got a golden one the same dirty colour as the EP artwork, and a swanky dirty-gold / black splatter edition, which I’ve got here.

The song “Lifeline” introduced me to the lush beats and melancholy droning that is Jesu. Gone are the brain-battering barrages that adorned mighty Godflesh tracks; here the sample work is a laid back affair of deep basses and hissing snares, that whilst coming to and fro in the mix alongside the sparkling, hopeful synth sound almost like audible waves of the ocean lapping at stony shores. How the sound sums up the artwork (a photo taken by the man himself) so perfectly! “You Wear Their Masks” continues in the same vein before Jarboe (not to mention Ted Parsons) come along and all of a sudden it’s half of 1987-Era Swans up in this bitch. Early Swans basically invented Godflesh so it is rather ironic that all these musicians should work together so many years later and make music that is actually nothing like either early Swans or Godflesh.

“End Of The Road” is one of my favourite Jesu songs ever, with Justin’s distant, distorted voice simply crooning “these scars don’t heal / I don’t mind”. Once upon a time, a friend of mine told me that Broadrick sounds like Ville Valo from HIM on this recording and I just can’t shake that now, every time I listen to it I’m reminded of that hatted Finnish bellsniff. Similar things have happened in other artist’s work, like Godflesh’s “Predominance” becoming “Dommelsch” after the Dutch lager, or even worse Electric Wizard’s “Venus In Furs” becoming “My Penis, It Burns” (don’t try it, I promise you will regret it), but I digress. Lifeline is a fantastic record and a great place to start with the Jesu discography, even if it is not the most logical.