Mirror

Description

Mirror is the sophomore album by the British alternative folk-rock group The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus, released on Probe Plus ‎in 1991.

The wonderfully named Liverpool collective first released ‘Mirror’, their second and most interestingly diverse album, on Geoff Davies’s pioneering Probe Plus label in 1992.

Opening with the hauntingly percussive «Shadowlands», they shift effortlessly to the eight-minute chorally hymnal «Immaculado» with its unexpectedly jazzed sax-break. Having set this religious theme, they follow with «Joy Of The Cross» and «Le Monde Du Silence», both hymnal, the latter sung in French and slipping into Arabic instrumentation.

Thus overlaying sacred music with the unexpectedly inventive, they repeatedly delight and surprise with their uniquely mesmerising and varied work. There’s a distinctly Gallic cinematic influence to «Theme De L’homme Qui N’a Pas Cru En Lui-Meme» and a multi-layered claustrophobic intensity to both «Nativity» and «Dies Irae», with the contrastingly trad-folk-rooted «Man Of Sorrows» sandwiched between.

Through its seamless combination of sampling and original recording, this entire wide-reaching album, which closes with «Theme (Reprise)», is a truly individual work. Its timeless and ageless quality renders it a genuine discovery for those – like me – who missed it first time around. This therefore comes as a worthy and welcome re-release. You should also check out their recently released and successful brand-new album, ‘Beauty Will Save The World‘. [Nick Toczek, R2 Magazine, 2017]

The RAIJ concept is examined more fully elsewhere in this issue. Within Christian music their sound probably is revolutionary but as any seasoned hack will tell you, there’s nothing new under the sun. The collective persona and the ‘anonymous’ live appearances (hidden behind sheets, etc) hark back to British avant garde rock performers like This Heat; the found’ sounds of foreign conversations to Holger Czukay of German group Can. Even the matching of sung liturgies to different beats is not exactly new (the 9 O’clock Service on Sheffield and Enigma’s chart entry spring to mind). Having said all this, RAIJ would doubtless maintain they’d heard of none of the above artists, but that’s not the point anyway. It is refreshing to hear a religious piece of work that’s genuinely trying to break new ground outside the mainstream stylistic straightjacket. The trouble is I like my avant-garde rock ‘hard’ – anyone who’s ever seen Test Dept. live will know what I mean. For my ears RAIJ are not radical enough – when the inevitable melodies break through they sound too simplistic, twee almost. «Theme de ‘L’homme Qui Pas Croyes En Lui-Meme’» is just what it says – music for a non-existent film, drawing on Third Man’ and Morricone territory, featuring the slightly annoying ‘breathy’ female vocal that recurrs elsewhere, «Psalm» is recorded live in Prague. We are told the band’s travels in the Eastern Bloc have inspired much of the record. Apparently Vaclar Havel likes Lou Reed and The Rolling Stones. So it goes. [James Attlee, Cross Rhythms, February 1992]

CD tracklist:

01. Shadowlands – 4:24
02. Inmaculado – 8:19
03. Joy Of The Cross – 1:44
04. Hymn To Dionysus – 2:53
05. Nostalgia – 6:07
06. Thême De “L’Homme Qui Ne Croyait Pas En Lui-Meme” – 3:53
07. Psalm – 4:32
08. Nativity – 5:17
09. Man Of Sorrows – 6:03
10. Thême Reprise – 2:05

Note: Re-issued on 12-inch vinyl LP by Occultation in 2017, featuring new cover artwork. (Limited to 1,000 copies with 300 pressed on color vinyl, including revised artwork, with insert.) Available at Bandcamp: https://revolutionaryarmyoftheinfantjesus.bandcamp.com/album/mirror

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The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus – Mirror (Occultation 2017) Cover Art, LP re-issue

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A short note on The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus was featured in the “Tapping the Underground” column of the Volume 4, Issue 3 of Harvest Rock Syndicate.

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