The Jesus and Mary Chain flicker back into the howls of electronic life with their first record in seven years, Glasgow Eyes. Screaming, throbbing, exciting instrumental work brings about Venal Joy, the rip-roaring start to this new piece which wastes no time in throwing itself to meddlesome recollections of animalistic lust and venomous hate. Jim and William Reid set out to create this record in the same circumstances as their debut, a sign of desperation or genius, rarely both. Here is a rare example, then. The Jesus and Mary Chain filter through distorted tones, the massive blows of broken glass and rough encounters built on the Glasgow streets. Venal Joy may be a short-lived opener, a shock to the system before normality resumes, but The Jesus and Mary Chain still has it.
It is this connection to the filth and Kurt Vonnegut-like style of farting around and observing the villainy of the everyday. American Born does this nicely, the tones it takes and the instrumental effectiveness built on even further by Mediterranean X Film, their hives of slick shlock create those formidable experiences of tripped-out terror. Jamcod does it best, the rock bottom hit at the drugged-up high marks a near-fatal experience but does linger on the mind as a lash out at living on the edge. Glasgow Eyes is an album which holds within it the initial punk rage found in the earliest works of The Jesus and Mary Chain. Droning words of vitriol paired with a constant buzzing which is now used as the foundations for the likes of Discotheque and Pure Poor instead of a vibrant feature.
But The Jesus and Mary Chain are no strangers to name-dropping, and their “rolling with The Stones” route through The Eagles and the Beatles feels more like a last-chance effort to credit their influences while they still live on than anything else. They are still hung up on their love for the heroin craze commandeered and commented on by The Velvet Underground, as the Glasgow Eyes closer, Hey Lou Reid more than hints at. Their clear chemical intake on Chemical Animal is still circling the drain but feels more like a response to hiding the horrors than anything else. This introverted, sickening feel of having to meet new people rests well on this track, and though its lyrics linger as repetitive notions, it makes sense to do so as The Jesus and Mary Chain looks to simplify with substances.
You can mix up some of The Jesus and Mary Chain by leaving tabs open making their own noise, adding sound and repeating Twitter videos of Glenn Howerton screaming into a pillow to plant a little flavour to the lacking, latter tracks. But then these are the building blocks of an unfinished dream. The Jesus and Mary Chain gets back in touch with their formative experiences, what made the band so volatile and exciting in the first place is not lost but it does take a staggering slice of 1960s influence still, particularly in its latter half. Second of June is not dissimilar to Sunday Morning from The Velvet Underground but The Jesus and Mary Chain are not ones to hide their influences. Glasgow Eyes hears them return to their roots, and right there is the source of new, reflective tracks.
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