Another hipster metal roundup is totally unnecessary to set the context: In a year that's found both legit and generic loud-to-indie-rock crossing over, Justin Broadrick has intriguingly opted to steer Jesu into gentler waters. The moody, slow-release fuzz-rock of last year's self-titled full-length wasn't particularly raucous outside of a couple headbangers like "Friends Are Evil". There's still plenty of that patented guitar crunch here, but Silver exhibits a stronger sense of melody, as if the syrupy haze froze a bit and in the process created something more crystalline. The title track neatly posits, "Silver's just another gold"; this EP manages to immerse such precious-metal glimmer into the mire.
Separating the compositions into component parts, the most noticeable difference is Broadrick's voice. Placed effects-free above the swirly fray of the first two tracks, it accrues disembodied distortion and layers as the EP progresses. At the bare, early moments, this legend from Godflesh and Techno Animal actually sounds like Blake Schwarzenbach. Well, if the Jawbreaker/Jets to Brazil heartbreaker found himself on a serious downer tip, gazing at untied shoelaces, fronting the seismic heaviness of Khanate.
Shake your heads if you want, but "Star" sounds especially like Dear You-era Jawbreaker in its opening bars, particularly Broadrick's vocal rhythms ("It won't be so hard/ Not for you/ Not you") and in the build toward anti-crescendo. Instrumentally? Not so much: Broadrick's bare, double-tracked voice-- at one point he almost loses his breath-- contrasts with the craggy background. In one channel, live drums battle with regal, wind-tunnel synth lines; in the other, a chattering drum machine kicks up dust with that requisite layer of lovely buzz. While exhibiting a surprisingly clear pop sense, it's easy to see how this record follows from the past work, especially older songs like "Tired of Me". It's that Jesu structure we're talking about, differently mixed, processed, and augmented.
Beyond the vocal treatment, Broadrick's production is crisper. It's difficult to know how he fit more sounds into his already packed fog'n'smog soundscape, but that's exactly what he did. Throughout, each detail remains multi-dimensional. There are no 10-minute drone-rock pieces like "Walk on Water" or "Sun Day" because when he does aim for the epic or an open-ended swan song, as on "Dead Eyes", a skittering Postal Service-type drum machine palette chops each second into something gently but busily propulsive. And propulsion is key. If a formula could be written, it might be something akin to: sketch pop songs, restructure with Codeine dynamics, then drape in M83 minus the film dialogue and purple tendencies.
Just when it seems that dour, sugar-drenched slow-rock anthems are the new drone, "Star" flows into "Wolves", a darker, molasses-lugubrious ballad. Then, the slow rifts of synth, echo, vocoder, deep-freeze percussion, and guitar crunch on "Wolves" compliment nicely the backward laps and ricocheting beats of the following "Dead Eyes". At this point in the EP, the vocals are buried and robotic, as if the voice has shed its humanity in anticipation of the ending. Or maybe he's drowning, drifting out to sea in the gorgeous ambiance of the finale's diminishing industrial eddies.
Silver's only shortcoming is its length. The layers on each track are so interesting-- no matter how closely you look, it's impossible to spot the shadowy bottom surface-- that fans of backlit ambiance, dark metal, and Flying Saucer Attack circa "My Dreaming Hill" will be left wanting for more. Of course, wanting more is a compliment, and Broadrick was wise to keep the collection so brief and engaging. Still, greedy fuck that I am, I'd like more of this metallic beauty thing. Hell, as indie kids launch into their boring Sabbath, its great witnessing bands like Isis, Sunn 0))), Mouth of the Architect, Ocean, and Jesu etching distinctively pretty crosshatches into otherwise rumbling seas. It's the new metal baroque: Come on, dudes, continue to get gorgeous.
