INDIEVOTION RATING: 8.5/10
Saturday, October 31, 2020
Friday, October 23, 2020
Sunday, October 18, 2020
Friday, October 16, 2020
J. Graves: In between Marathon and Deathbed EP.
I remember to have accidentally stumbled into J. Graves debut full-length "Marathon" by late September 2019. It happened the same way just like when I discovered Joy Division "Closer", Siouxsie and The Banshees "Kiss in The Dreamhouse", The Cure "Pornography", The Psychedelic Furs "Talk, Talk, Talk", The Church "Heyday" or Husker Du "Candy Apple Grey" just to mention a few examples. I was struck by the front cover aesthetics before listening the music and that would later prove to be an absolute spot on intuition.
"Marathon" still remains an excellent, angry, exercise of infectious, addictive, raw intensity from the opening track to the very end. A fantastic debut, a catharsis of anxieties through poetry, propulsive rhythm section and a soulful, impressive, hypnotic guitar.
A year after "Marathon" was released, J. Graves shared with the world her "Deathbed" EP which turns out to be another exquisite gem. J. Graves brings back to mind the likes of the Au Pairs, the Gang of Four, Siouxsie and The Banshees but also Sleater Kinney, P. J. Harvey, Interpol or Metric. From a certain point of view J. Graves blends some of these more notorious influences and builds a sonic aesthetic that brings past and present together and manages to revisit revise and somehow contribute to reinvent post punk, a genre that always had a dancing seed glowing in the dark.
In this new release J. Graves genuinely renews her invitation to dance, run and jump pushing the listener into the exorcism of the inner demons, a therapeutic healing of modern existential anxieties that go entirely in line with the sonic aesthetic displayed in her debut album.
The four tracks that are part of the new EP not only reinforce the main features and influences that were already present on her previous work but perfect them in a way that undoubtedly makes the Deathbed EP one of the most hautingly breathtaking releases so far this year.
The permanent call to dance, the restless strummed guitar always pushing forward like a locomotive accompanied by Aaron MacDonald's electrifying shuffling drums and some highly corrosive, vicious bass lines made by Kelly Clifton that give a sonic grandeur to the overall sound that work as the perfect support for Jessa's magnificent vocals song after song that make J. Graves one of the greatest and most stimulating artists one can find these days.
INDIEVOTION RATING: 9/10
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