Beyond Jesus’ debut album Leaving Present is a hypnotic, dark, haunting wonder. Blazing electricity runs free across the tracks on this album that was created with the idea of being “designed to sound as if Bowie wrote an album for Iggy”. Masterminds Jimi Riddle and Dom Keen have kept these tracks hidden from the world for two years, but they will be unleashed sometime in 2021. I had the chance to hear an early listening, and I can attest that these tracks are captivating, to say the least.
When I first heard a couple tracks from the album, I found it to be interesting as it is rather different than what I usually listen to. But like some of the music of David Bowie and Iggy Pop, once you are warmed up to the sound, you find you enjoy the music.
Regardless. . . whether you casually listen to an album or you’re a reviewer like myself, you find that first impressions are rather strikingly crucial. I believe it’s not fair to the artist to judge their work off say the opening track - so the first three tracks are where my mind tends to wander upon initial impressions. What you get in this part of any album is often intended to strike you, lash out, and make you feel something - and typically that ‘something’ is a hook, a captivation, a hypnosis. Something to keep you listening.
What kept me listening was the mere sound of the album. The sound and subject is dark, which forms its own passages of fascination and hypnosis. “The Cross Sideways” evokes chills as a story of regret and uncertainty begins (“We should’ve known better/we said nothing/two faces of evil/that you choose not to see” as the chorus details). “Mouth to Hand” and “Rusty Spoon” provide similar tales. “Mouth to Hand” contains lyrics such as:
"We were okay for a week or two/the money rolled in and suspicion too"
“Maybe there is love/maybe there is not”
“Oh well, you kept your secret so well/oh well, you really gave me hell”
Needless to say, this is not uplifting music, go somewhere else if that is what you fancy! - but art comes in many forms. Art is real, authentic, and Beyond Jesus’ debut is certainly an authentic, unadulterated exhibition of darkness. The first three tracks attest to this as their muse is sufferance, bittersweet sufferance and sorrow.
But those subjects make for an incredible muse. “Rusty Spoon” is an ode to isolation and hiding the darkness and destruction through substance. With this in mind, the pieces of the album start to connect, as the constant hypnosis remains. The setting is dark, but there is not a bad track on the album. They all have their place and time, and it is difficult to pick a favorite track - but if you insist, I am partial to “Mouth to Hand” and “Ego Diaboli”.*
The whole album sounds to belong somewhere in the late 1970s in the veins of Iggy Pop and David Bowie, and one of the later tracks “Slip Away” puts this on a prominent exhibition. The destination to have the album sound as if Bowie wrote it for Iggy is reached most strongly here in my ears. Bowie’s music off of Low sounds to be one inspiration for this album - especially the sounds of songs like “Always Crashing in the Same Car”. Beyond Jesus’ “Slip Away” is certainly similar in style and sound yet has its own appeal, too. This is found in the ever-fascinating combination of the distorted instrumental and Riddle’s vocals. It simply works and succeeds to evoke the fascination and wonder that is encapsulated so well across the album.
It is rather refreshing to hear an album like this. I love music that challenges what I have previously enjoyed and lets my taste evolve in new, unexpected ways. Beyond Jesus’ debut album certainly fits that description. Leaving Present may have its inspiration and roots in the 1970s, but the sounds belong in this current time. When they will be brought forth to the world is unknown at the moment, but when that time comes, the hypnosis will begin again. Once the sorcery is performed, the spell is difficult to break. Good music like this is perhaps a niche; however, while it was outside my typical tastes, I find that it is still a fascinating album where the addicting electricity, haunting vocals, and epic instrumentals won me over. Captivation is evoked in many ways, and this is certainly one of them.
Even after the album is over, it is difficult to shake the experience. And still, you will be drawn back again to discover something new that strikes out at you like a viper that you had somehow overlooked previously. Whether there will be another release from the team of Jimi Riddle and Dom Keen is unknown, but I certainly hope for one as what is exhibited on Leaving Present is simply art - real, authentic, unadulterated art and music that will leave you with an emotion that is only evoked through something that has sunk its claws into you and refuses to depart. Even then, the claw marks remain. . .
* Listen to "Ego Diaboli" here