Description
Beauty Will Save the World is the third full-length studio album by the British alternative rock group The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus, released on Occultation Records in October 2015.
Beauty Will Save the World is the band’s first album of new material for 20 years. Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus (RAIJ) first emerged out of Liverpool in the mid-1980s, and were active for a decade between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s, when they produced three albums: The Gift Of Tears (1987), Mirror (1991), and Paradis (1995). There was then a long hiatus in their public performances between 1998 and a one-off concert in their hometown of Liverpool in 2013, which coincided with the release of After the End, a three-CD box set of mostly historic recordings. To followers of their work, RAIJ have always been elusive. Interviews with the group have been few, marketing has been minimal, and their early performances were notable for their shrouding the front of the stage with sheets of paper or cloth so that audiences could see them only as silhouettes.
http://www.churchtimes.co.uk/articles/2015/7-august/features/features/standing-alone-in-an-apocalyptic-sea
RAIJ are shrouded in mystery, never really do interviews and rarely perform live. Their music is steeped in Christian orthodoxy and iconography yet is in no way religious. Or maybe it is! They are intensely “spiritual”, sometimes unsettlingly so, and appear to be more concerned with restoration than de-construction.
Not so much a band, they appear to be more a loose collective of musicians and friends referencing a search for meaning, truth and beauty. This search evolves in their recordings.
‘Beauty Will Save the World’ – a reference from Dostoevsky – begins with a whispered liturgy and an irregular heartbeat and from there on in the album becomes a sacred thing. You have to stop everything and let yourself become immersed in the mystery.
RAIJ, although sometimes tagged “apocalyptic folk”, refuse to be compartmentalised. They choose fragments from old films, audio and musical recordings to restore and reconnect them in new and inspirational forms.
The album inner sleeve tells us nothing and yet everything. A quote from mystic Thomas Merton points us towards dimmed light, meekness and hidden wholeness – elements all contained in this and the previous albums.
«Beauty Will Save the World» is an otherworldly listening experience, which is fragile and eseoteric. It is a haunting mix of chants, percussion, samples and soundscapes that gently envelope the listener into a state of reverence and wonder.
«The Bright Field» hums and crackles over the voice of R.S. Thomas reciting his poetry, a vocal drone is accompanied by flue and violin before returning to a simple “quietness.” Elsewhere bells chime, a guitar picks out notes as tribal drums beat out a hypnotic rhythm. «A Crowd of Stars» is magical, combining haunting vocals and a simple backing of violin and piano .
Truly a liturgy for our times, RAIJ have produced something unique that allows you to see the world with different eyes. [Keith How, pennyblackmusic.co.uk, August 2015]
CD tracklist:
01. Song Of The Soul – 8:06
02. All Is Grace – 3:19
03. Après Le Temps – 3:17
04. Procession – 5:14
05. The Bright Field – 3:07
06. Suspended On A Cross – 3:47
07. A Crowd Of Stars – 3:09
08. Repentance-Sama – 12:16
09. After The End – 2:35
10. Before The Ending Of The Day – 9:36
Note: Simultaneously released by Occultation Records on 180g 12-inch vinyl LP in a gatefold outer and inner sleeve, and on CD featuring “Suspended On A Cross” as a bonus track. As well released as a Deluxe Edition featuring a 180g LP in a gatefold outer and inner sleeve, CD version in gatefold outer and inner sleeve, and an extremely limited cassette edition (released by Crime+Punishment), as well as poster, badge, art print and three postcards in special printed outer box with artwork. 50 copies were made with the cassette (Deluxe Plus version) and another 50 without (Standard Deluxe version). Available at Bandcamp: https://revolutionaryarmyoftheinfantjesus.bandcamp.com/album/beauty-will-save-the-world
The Revolutionary Army of The Infant Jesus, Live in Concert 2015
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CREDITS. Mastered by Jason Mitchell and Nick Halliwell.
Musicians: Paul Boyce (clarinet, keyboard, voice), Jon Egan (harmonium, melodica, organ, voice), Leslie Hampson (percussion, piano, concertina, harmonica, guitar).
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