The Jesus And Mary Chain
Darklands

THE REVIEW

And at a certain point, the music changes. What lies behind the Jesus And Mary Chain transforms, morphs, molds, and sticks to you like honey dripping and becomes Darklands. Sweet, bitter, melancholic Darklands. The layered feedbacks dissolve, the noise melts away, and the rage slowly evaporates, giving way to a melancholic sweetness of memories and hopes left to run on barren lands, like thoughts free to chase each other in the heavy air.

It's 1987. The world sings to Europe and dances to Madonna. Italy acclaims the scantily clad Sabrina Salerno, I watch the stormy sea from my new home, and in foggy Scotland, the two Reid brothers, one on vocals and the other on guitar, look within and pull out this decadently ecstatic jewel, this introspective journey made of reverberations and honey, of poetry and sadness. So a bit quietly, away from the spotlight, the charts, and the mainstream, as with anything full of 'heart', it explodes in all its dark-bright beauty.

10 tracks for 35 minutes of perfect pop grace and the magic begins. It starts right with the splendid title track 'Darklands' and we realize from the very first moments that everything we will hear is light-years away from the lashing strokes of the previous Psycocandy. The guitars no longer screech sick and raging calls but gently accompany William's whispers and his barely mentioned choruses. Three chords and the beats slow down. Then there's 'Deep On Perfect Morning' and you realize perfectly well that it could be you singing it in front of the rising sun, vainly trying to gather the pieces of a world that keeps spinning even without you. With the subsequent 'Happy When It Rains' and 'Down On Me', the rhythm picks up and the bubblegum flavor, more typically rock 'n' roll of the Scottish band's songs, takes over. But even if the pace advances, the languid sense of incompleteness of the soul remains and darkens the sky with thick clouds of rain on the horizon. No love will find refuge from this downpour of emotions. Then 'April Skies' comes and you bitterly laugh disenchanted under its dark skies. You realize that someone slips away from your thoughts, shattering the world, making it fall down ('And the world comes tumbling down'), leaving you making love on the edge of a blade ('Making love on the edge of the knife') at the feet of a violent life that doesn't understand you, dead and cracked like a broken heart. And you stop and think that every word weighs inside Darklands, every melody enchants, every sigh knocks inside you and wets your lashes with glistening tears. 'Cherry Came Too', for example, is so sweet and hurts so much at the same time that you feel it pulsating under your skin; with that tender little chant, those 'kisses scratching like barbed wire', those repetitive four chords and that sensation of incredulity it leaves on you... Not to mention 'On The Wall' where for the third time, Jim steps aside, leaving the singing to the other Reid who rocks us, transporting us into his foggiest electric thoughts. 'About You' is the last among the grooves of Darklands. The last sugar-free candy that for its barely hinted 'warmth' lets us glimpse a languid beginning of spring, the one that always struggled to light everything in our hearts... but only for a moment, only for a moment.

It's the album for the disillusioned. Those who always dream and always realize that there is little time to have their heads in the clouds. For those who are not afraid to torment their souls with the astonishingly sweet voices of William and Jim. It's for those who still get emotional in front of the April skies or for those who, smiling, manage to be happy even just for an instant when the sky cries...