The Jesus and Mary Chain
Damage and Joy

It wasn't easy to get the two brothers Jim and William Reid to agree to work on this latest studio album by the Jesus and Mary Chain, the first studio album in 19 years since the last one.

Jim in particular was not at all convinced about embarking on this project. The reasons were different. 1. Family, and in particular his young children, were the reason he had no intention of embarking to the USA to record the album; 2. He considered a certain era closed and thought it somewhat pointless to replicate the Jesus and Mary Chain sound from thirty years ago; 3. The last time (during the recording of 'Munky' in 1997) that he and William entered the studio together, things went terribly wrong. At a certain point, they couldn't stand each other anymore, and each began working on their own.

Yet in the end, seemingly also thanks to the mediation of the usual Alan McGee, what seemed impossible was done, and the two brothers reformed the band with drummer Brian Young and recorded 'Damage and Joy,' an album released last March 24 via Artificial Plastic and produced by the Reid brothers along with Martin Glover aka Youth (practically the historical bassist of Killing Joke).

The studio work was fundamentally based on those premises considered by William, who, unlike his brother, has always rejected the group's 'noise' roots. Consequently, 'Damage and Joy' is mostly an album of songs. A record of great songs, to be precise, and as it has always been in the group's tradition, which is here renewed even after many years.

The album is full of 'retrievals': 'All Things Pass,' of which an initial version was already released in 2008; 'Songs For A Secret' and 'Amputation.' published over the years by Jim Reid; 'Can't Stop The Rock,' a song by Sister Vanilla, the group of Linda (the sister of Jim and William); 'The Two Of Us,' 'Get On Home,' 'Facing Up To The Facts' are all songs that Jim had previously published with Freeheat.

All the songs have been clearly re-recorded along with others that are unreleased and with the participation of special guests, including notably vocalists Isobel Campbell, Sky Ferreira, and Linda Fox. The final result is an album with a clearly shoegaze soul but loaded with rock and roll content that now takes shape with a certain fuzz sound ('Amputation,' 'All Things Pass,' 'Mood Rider'...) and now as ballads that might recall the glories of 'Darklands' ('War On Peace,' 'Song For a Secret'...).

Overall, there's no need to shout about a miracle. That is, excluding the great achievement, of course, of getting the two brothers together in the recording studio. But it's undeniable that the songs on this album are beautiful, and in this respect, 'Damage and Joy' is unassailable in recreating the band's typical mood, in a year for the United Kingdom marked by many comebacks (Charlatans, Ride, the Gallagher brothers...).