jesu - Ascension (review)

Ascension is jesu’s fourth full length album, the last being 2009’s one song 40+ minute Infinity experiment. But it also marks the sixteenth jesu release since 2004 (ten EPs, one single, and one compilation). That’s an average of two releases every year. Added to this, JKB’s other projects – Final, Greymachine, Pale Sketcher to name a few – plus remixes and other collaborations, the man is no lazy bastard. But what does this prolificacy mean to the quality of the material he churns out? With Ascension it means nothing. The album is a self contained unit; an audio book to open, listen through, then close. No “singles”, not a great deal of diversity, and initially not much distinction between the songs at all. But I stress the words “not much”. There still is a bit. Ascension is an album that does not want to fit in anywhere. It is insular, one of the most insular rock albums I’ve heard. Maybe even autistic. Autistic? Well listen to the album and see if that makes sense.

It took me a while to first check out jesu, considering I’ve been a fan of Godflesh since I was a teen. The first jesu album I heard was the Silver EP (2006). The title track was the first thing to hit me, but it did not do so immediately. It was only after several listens that the track’s stirring, heavy-laden beauty was revealed. I became fascinated with the song, and still am. Next came the two albums, Jesu (2004) & Conqueror (2007). The latter’s more refined, lighter feel made it more accessible but after the weeks and months of listening to both albums the former, self-titled album began to bear down over it’s more superficial cousin and buckled it’s knees. Jesu conquered Conqueror. Then I found jesu’s first release, Heart Ache (2004) (later re-released in 2010 with an extra four songs from the original recording sessions). I adore Heart Ache, because it’s fucking brilliant. Since then I’ve felt jesu releases to be wavering between interesting (Pale Sketches, 2007), patchy (Lifeline, 2007), exciting (the first half of Infinity), to downright bland (the Battle of Mice split EP, 2008).

So now comes Ascension. Admittedly, I did not anticipate this release as I did with previous jesu efforts. Since Silver I’ve felt somewhat of a gradual decline in quality of output. But with Ascension all previous efforts seem irrelevant. It’s as if this album doesn’t care about the other albums. It’s a loner and has no need for comparisons. It is its own self. It is this reaction I’m having that makes the album compelling and motivates me to try and take fifty minute breaks here and there to immerse myself in the album, attentive and contemplative. It’s as if there’s something there that I’ve yet to find, but at the same rate not sure if there is anything there, nevermind me finding it.

At first it’s a hazy, somewhat uncomplex journey. The songs flow into each other – to the untrained “jesu” ear, one song might seem indistinguishable from the next. But, as with all good albums, it takes a few listens for it to bloom. It’s after the fouth or fifth listen that you detect a certain pattern; the longer songs (‘Fools’, ‘Broken Home’, ‘December’) take till their halfway point to break and to show what they have in their arsenal. JKB’s vocals are so floaty that you can’t hear what he’s saying most of the time. This I believe is on purpose, not because he’s not the most accomplished singer in the world, but because you’re simply not meant to hear it clearly. This is one of the elements that builds the overriding feel of the album; breezy, unclear, intangible. I can see fans of My Bloody Valentine digging this album.

‘Birth Day’ and ‘Small Wonder’ were given to us months before the album. ‘Birth Day’ is quite similar to the ‘Christmas’ single from 2010, but maybe not as good. ‘Small Wonder’ is stronger but is maybe a bit too long for what it is. ‘Sedatives’ might be an outlier (might be) as it seems almost chirpy compared to its siblings. But maybe its just a period of relief for a depressed being than the character of an upbeat entity.There are moments of beauty in the album – three minutes into ‘Black Lies’, three and a half minutes into ‘Small Wonder’, and three and a half minutes and thereafter of ‘December’, but the real beauty is left till the end: ‘King of Kings’ and ‘Ascension’. Just as ‘Stanlow’ was the highlight of Conqueror JKB has left his ace or rather his king, the King of Kings, to be his final chapter. The title track closer is more of an epilogue; it’s short and stripped of weight but is an almost precious reflection, it’s just sweet strumming of guitars and a delicate synth at the end. If there is to be a ‘best of jesu’ compilation down the road, I would not nominate any from Ascension except the final two numbers.

There are certainly soundscapes that will recall those of Conqueror but yet it feels different and separate from that album and any other. For those who may have feared something dull after 2008’s lifeless split EPs, the second half of Infinity or most of Opiate Sun, relax and look forward to another jesu journey. It’s not always invigorating, in fact it’s rarely invigorating, “invigorating” is the wrong word to critique jesu, but it is consistent and compelling. It will take a few spins and it may never hit the levels of bliss that ‘Silver’ or ‘Friends Are Evil’ can, but Ascension is a meditative and complete album. JKB’s jesu has life and direction still. And he’s more than welcome to take longer breaks between releases.

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nice review, will be checking this out for sure. didn’t even know this was on the way.

i love jesu so much, but damned if it’s not hard to keep track of all the crap jkb has been putting out. it’s difficult to focus when you get so many splits and ep and you are trying to “catch 'em all”.

Liking “Black Lies” a good bit. Pretty solid album.

only listened to half of it so far.

the drums on “sedative” it’s called i think, this wholoe song sounds very un-jesu to me. I like it, greatly in fact, it feels like a different … atmosphere…? than jesu? i don’t know what to liken it to but it reminds me of something i can’t quite place.

so that’s awesome.

i]Ascension[/i] is jesu’s fourth full length album, the last being 2009’s one song 40+ minute Infinity experiment.

This is how I know this is NOT the band for me.

[reply]

i]Ascension[/i] is jesu’s fourth full length album, the last being 2009’s one song 40+ minute Infinity experiment.

This is how I know this is NOT the band for me.[/reply]

You really should check out a select few of the material. You don’t really need to hear it all. If it were me I would suggest :
Heart Ache
Jesu
Conqueror
Pale Sketches
Infinity

So basically, anything full length and NOT on an EP or Split, although some of their best work is on the EP’s, the albums give a broader view of the bands abilities.

And as for your tagline…

“Gunnar is gay and people that like him are gay. Don’t listen to Gunnar.”

Heart Ache
Jesu
Conqueror
Pale Sketches
Infinity

Are these song titles or albums? If you give me a few suggested song titles I’ll look them up on YouTube when I have a chance tonight.

“Gunnar is gay and people that like him are gay. Don’t listen to Gunnar.”

HAHAHA!!! I think I’ll make that my NEW sigline. I put the Godflesh line on there about a year back or so when Melvins Fiend and I were messing with some goony Avalanchers. I got booted from their stuffy site, but some of them ended up here, or maybe they were here all along, and kept whining about us.

Akbar sent me “Streetcleaner” which I can sometimes enjoy doses of, but I never really listened to anything else, except a few tracks on YouTube. I’m pretty ambivalent about the band to tell the truth. I just liked messing with the fans because of how far up their own buttholes they seem to have crawled.

Well I’m glad you can take a joke lol.

Those are album titles. As far as songs by jesu I’d say check out ruined, friends are evil, can I go now, weightless and horizontal, conqueror, stanlow, you wear their masks, wolves (original beats mix), dummy, storm comin’ on, and the song infinity even if it is 40 minutes long.

And yeah… I feel ya on the avalanchers thing. I left there years ago because of the way they act sometimes. Godflesh is great but not everyone’s cup o tea. Many of the avalanchers have been here for years before that board was created though. And if you wanna check out GOOD gofdflesh check out just about anyuthing on the albums Selfless, Us and Them, or Pure. Specifically I would say check out xnoybis, go spread your wings, I me mine, us and them, mothra,

I’ll do some dabbling later and see if anything speaks to me.

To be honest I can’t see Gunnar Esiason digging jesu at all…a few of their crushing riffs would be up his street but that’s about it. For me “Ruined” is their deadliest moment. You’ll have to put up with about 5 minutes of lush piano before the crushing riff though Gunnar hahaha…I will have to check out this new jesu at some stage I guess…although to be honest I’m gagging for the next dose of Godflesh that we were never supposed to get.

Yeah, it just sucks that IronsAtTheDisco! can’t go on and post his majestic album reviews at the Avalanchers forum anymore. If that’s how they treat Justin K. Broaderick’s #1 fan I don’t see how I could ever be part of that . . .

[reply][reply]

i]Ascension[/i] is jesu’s fourth full length album, the last being 2009’s one song 40+ minute Infinity experiment.

This is how I know this is NOT the band for me.[/reply]

You really should check out a select few of the material. You don’t really need to hear it all. If it were me I would suggest :
Heart Ache
Jesu
Conqueror
Pale Sketches
Infinity
[/reply]
Honestly gunnar I think your musical stylings are probably on par with my tastes so if I were you I would skip that whole list start with “silver” the ep and then move on to Pale sketches and I really like the battle of mice split. seriously doubt you will like Conquerer or self titled. I know Akbar is really fond of heartache but I thought there was too much dead space on the disc.

[url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J52dFKQ1n20] Star

[url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBs-cZs9m8U] silver

[url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfytPS6j4Cw] wolves

[url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz5UIOqpRYE] Dead eyes

^ is the silver ep. I think the album kicks ass if your by yourself at night. certainly night time music.
you can google the track listing for pale sketches and you tube those on your own if your interested.
Late,
grmpysmrf

[url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J52dFKQ1n20] Star

[url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gBs-cZs9m8U] silver

[url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfytPS6j4Cw] wolves

[url http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yz5UIOqpRYE] Dead eyes

Of those, I really only liked “Wolves” and even that one pissed me off. I felt the vocals should be more up front. They sound really wimpy as it is. I’m just sitting on my couch listening to these tracks. I put on headphones, though, to give it a proper chance.

This is very atmospheric music. I feel like I could enjoy it okay if I was drunk and had a big screen in front of me with slow motion pictures of A-Bombs exploding or time-lapse clips of rotting carcasses and whatnot.

As it is though, it’s the type of music that requires quite a bit of patience, and I’m a guy with pretty much zero.

I’ll try the other dude’s suggestions now.

As far as songs by jesu I’d say check out ruined, friends are evil

Suggesting the 20 minute song! Thanks, Jerk! HAHA! I gave it a shot. I tried to like Ruined, but again, I just don’t have the patience.

“Friends are Evil” was a little easier because I found one that has a rad video (pretty much exactly as I described, hahahahahaa!!!). Also, it reminded me of weird experimental stuff that I used to get really into (like NON and so forth). I still didn’t finish the track though.

I’ve probably sampled enough for tonight. This just ain’t gonna be my band. But thanks, Everyone, for the suggestions. I appreciate your help.

I think star is my favorite jesu tune dead eyes is pretty decent too. Kinda figured you wouldn’t dig it. Its luck I happened in on it cause I started with self titled and was not impressed. On a fluke I gave silver a chance and then listened to it a day or two later at about 11:30 pm it was summer so I had the doors open and a nice breeze going through the house most of the lights were off… just kicked ass! For that album its more about how it makes me feel/think than it is about sound. It’s certainly my favorite jesu release pale sketches is close behind, opiate sun is boring as fuck, pale sketches demixed is very meh. The original is better, why are we not perfect is very whispy but for all the remixes it sounds really like one song and really like a single rather than an ep. So it gets boring fast cause its like your listening to a song on repeat.
Late,
grmpysmrf

I’ll try some more Godflesh tonight just to be fair.

All you have is Streetcleaner right?

my suggestion would be grab the tracklist from In All Langauges Disc 1, which was Earache’s attempt at a GH’s style package - skip the stuff you’ve heard.

"Avalanche Master Song" – 5:14
"Like Rats" – 4:13
"Streetcleaner" – 6:05
"Slateman" – 5:59
"Slavestate" – 3:58
"Mothra" – 4:33
"Spite" – 4:32
"Pure" – 5:04
"Xynobis" – 5:18
"Crush My Soul" – 4:28
"Anything Is Mine" – 4:01
"Circle of Shit" – 4:55
"Frail" – 5:27
"I, Me, Mine" – 5:16
"The Internal" – 5:50

out of those, personally i’m partial to Pure, Crush my Soul, frail, the internal, and slateman. Slavestate is good just cuz it’s sorta out of step with most of the godflesh catalog.

Thanks. I’ll let you know how it goes.

I want more Greymachine.

K-mart is supposed to be on the next one, it’s partly recorded i believe? there was a list of some of the guests on facebook or his blog or something i read.