JJ72 - 'I To Sky' (Columbia / Lakota)
4/5
By: Toby L
From the outset of a searing, piano-based ballad 'Nameless', it's certain that Ireland's JJ72 aren't returning to pastures old for compellingly open-minded, second-LP, 'I To Sky'.
Displaying the kind of honed maturity that their eponymous debut hinted to, yet rarely displayed, 'I...' is a worthy successor, full of competent twists and turns, and compositions of a fuller, broader scope for both instrumentation and variation.
The original, stick-in-the-mud fans may sneer at the likes of the acoustic-laden 'Brother Sleep', yet shall revel in the sumptuous heights of recent single 'Formulae', the Smashing Pumpkins-alike distortion and fuzzy melodic charm of 'I Saw A Prayer' acting as a further divider, heightened by the imaginative, occasionally gritty production of original Nine Inch Nails and 'Pumpkins collaborators Flood and Alan Moulder. Consequentially, the nearest you get to 'hit-singles' on this twelve-tracker are the two aforementioned, and the grandiose 'Always & Forever', the more frantic paces and moody assaults as dished out within 'Serpent Sky' echoing the sonic noise as hinted towards on the last full-length's closer, 'Bumble Bee'.
Really, it forms a paradox to efforts already produced, the towering, accessible likes of their former material which provided so many chart-opportunities a far cry away, enabling a stealthier body of work in the long-run, longevity for the listener and added muso-points for sheer, blissful experimentation. Indeed, it's when the '72 challenge themselves that they truly excel, with the live-sounding elevation of 'Sinking' as movingly engrossing as they come, '7th Wave' itself a number that growls and purrs prior to Mark Greaney unleashing his characteristic howl amidst a soundtrack that Radiohead would fail to sneer at.
With the final collision of tracks dictated by the animated pulses of 'Half Three' and self-explanatory 'Glimmer', senses are soon awakened and prepared for the chopping guitars and drum-machine of 'City' whilst closer 'Oiche Mhalth' heralds Greaney's declaration that 'Someone with real emotion/Someone with real devotion/Can see all the marvels I can't see'; such a claim is evidently erroneous after beholding the achievement of his latest masterpiece.
Darker, deeper, bolder, 'I To Sky' is JJ72's entrance into rock's heavyweight league. But let's just hope its recipients are wide-eyed and open-eared enough to take it all on-board.
Artists in this article: JJ72
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