Lift to Experience: The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads

»Lift to Experience The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads (Bella Union) **
It's not every day you hear the Bible's galvanising turn of phrase set against angry guitars, but when you do, it's scary. According to frontman Josh Pearson, this is a concept album that casts Texas as the Promised Land. His morbid interest in religion is the result of a childhood that saw his father find God and forget about his family. Now Pearson is here to save us with the sound of My Bloody Valentine and tales of angels, though Pearson admits he's 'just a stupid ranch hand in a Texas rock band, trying to understand God's masterplan'. Which isn't easy. He pleas to be heard by God and by us, setting the agenda in the sermon Just As Was Told and making a pact to spread the word in return for success in Waiting to Hit. The songs churn, evolving from deft little rhythms to messy hymns of operatic proportions. Pearson's voice is gorgeous, but with lyrics full of blood and judgment, the beauty is obscured by a fundamentalism that lacks humanity, while the band's overwhelming belief in themselves - 'we're simply the best band in the whole damn land,' sings Pearson - is tiring. This is heavy listening in all senses of the word, and you end up praying for a little light relief. (BC)«
- The Guardian, 2001

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