Jesu
Why Are We Not Perfect?
(Hydra Head)
A stop-gap release of sorts, Why Are We Not Perfect? is meant (along with several splits) to sate the devotees until the next proper Jesu full-length, Godflesh reunion or, god forbid, the awful day Justin Broadrick decides to reconvene with Napalm Death. Featuring three tracks that were previously only available on his 12" split with Eluvium, as well as radically re-worked version of two of those tracks, the EP is sufficiently meaty, if not exactly chock full of new material.
The best of the lot, the original version of "Farewell", finds Broadrick in full-on blissando mode, employing a dizzying array of layered guitar effects, bass drones and a static, motorik rhythm that gradually congeals itself into a symbiotic love ode to days of future primitive longing and heartbreak. Conversely, the revamped "Farewell (alternative version)", is a slow-burning vortex of glacial synths, largely stripped of the harsh, undulating guitar drones and propulsive cadence that is so central to the original's sky-melting climax. The alternative version of the title-track is perhaps the most serene track Broadrick's ever committed to tape, a loping miasma of distant voices, splintered harmonium drones and stuttering breakbeats that finds him one step closer to crafting the sun-imploding symphony he's been working, ever-vigilantly, towards since his debut.
