Revolutionary Army Of The Infant Jesus – Beauty Will Save The World

Cult Liverpool musicians' new album searches for truth, beauty and meaning in a messed up world!

Musicians reforming for the coin may garner more column inches but when they do so for the music, and because they have something to say, the results are infinitely more interesting and worthy of our attention. Such is the case with Beauty Will Save The World. After an 18 year hiatus RAIJ feel the time is right for for the world to hear their latest work. A low-key release it may be, but one that deserves and needs to be heard.

With such a loaded album title (a Dostoevsky quote), the music has a lot to live up to. It doesn't disappoint. Comprised of ambient, soft cinematic soundscapes with poetical spoken word passages drifting in from the ether in a variety of languages. Over several listens a central thrust emerges, one concerned with religion, beauty, truth and transcendence. The music is gentle and tinged with sadness yet manages to be both elegiac and hopeful. Although there are several languages throughout the album (every continent represented), the album is about connections rather than differences. Truly music for the healing of nations. It may get overlooked in the end-of-year/Christmas scramble but you're unlikely to find a more affecting and unique album. Recommended.

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Click here for Occultation Recordings.

The Everlasting Yeah – Anima Rising

Ex-members of That Petrol Emotion return for more manic pop thrills!

That Petrol Emotion were a band whose critical reputation was not matched by record sales. If anything they were a band out of time. For a band made up of former members of The Undertones, a smaller following did however mean the band had more artistic freedom after casting off the pop shackles. With a sound that was spiky and angular, but bolstered a solid rock-funk groove the band were out of step with the populist Britpop sounds when they split in 1994. It was a further ten years before Franz Ferdinand, The Futureheads, Maximo Park and the like cashed in with a style that owed much to TPE.

Twenty years on from their dissolution the final line-up of TPE return with a new name, a new outlook and no diminishing of their talents or enthusiasm. On their debut album as The Everlasting Yeah round all four members share vocal duties along with writing credits. Egos and genres are left at the door leaving the band free to go where the muse takes them. They describe their sound as Keltic Kosmische Musik on their website. While that may be a somewhat bold claim there is a sense of freedom, an abandonment of tried and tested routes, but with a remaining belief in the power of a good strong tune.

The Keltic Kosmische claim is most evident on closing opus 'The Grind' where the band stretch out into an extended hypnotic jam. Elsewhere top session saxophonist and indie music biz lifer Terry Edwards makes a guest appearance on 'Taking That Damn Train Again', a sterling lesson in skronk 'n' roll. There's even room for some indie-funk on '(Whatever Happened To The) Hoodlum Angels'. Fans of boundary pushing guitar music from Television through to QOTSA will find much common ground here, and much to like!

Click here for The Everlasting Yeah website.

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The Shifting Sands - Cosmic Radio Station

Antipodean shoegaze alert!

To title your 2^nd album Cosmic Radio Station is a bold move but not if the sounds it contains can back it up. Fortunately New Zealand trio The Shifting Sands have concocted a pleasing mix of hazy shoegaze and indie thrum and chime which more than backs up the claim. Softly sung vocals and poppy melodies break through the wall of sound making the album as much about tunes as it is about textures.

Highlights include the moody 'Making It Through' where the band get a chance to max out their pedal boards, 'Coming Back', a pop tune in noisy wolf's clothing, and the short instrumental 'Whareakeake', a nod to where the album was recorded, its yearning folk melody adorned with baroque strings. Throughout the record noise is tempered by melodies, which break through the shimmer like sunshine through clouds.

Fans of Chaptehouse, Slowdive and the like will feel right at home, as will those of The Jesus and Mary Chain. Other signposts include The Psychedelic Furs, Kurt Vile, and Ultra Vivid Scene. That said, there ain't nobody around right now quite like The Shifting Sands. Check 'em out!

Click here for The Shifting Sands on Facebook.

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