Review Summary: The name’s Jesus… Young Jesus
Over the course of six full-lengths and an EP, Young Jesus have covered a lot of musical territory: their early works were a distinctive mix of The National-style indie rock, emo, and folk, which then morphed into several albums of some sort of proggy math-emo with a hint of jazz. 2020’s
Welcome To Conceptual Beach was both well-received and the group’s most widely noticed record by some margin, but, in true Young Jesus fashion, the follow-up once again throws precedent out the window. This dramatic shift is obvious from the fact that new album
Shepherd Head was crafted by Young Jesus founding member John Rossiter with no bandmates and no guitars.
Comprised of eight songs totaling under a half-hour in duration,
Shepherd Head is a concise listen, but an oddly sporadic one nonetheless. Upon cursory listen, you’ll run the gamut from a beautiful, Bon Iver-esque tune (“Ocean”, one of two tracks to feature indie/folk up-and-comer Tomberlin) to a grandiose, pulsating electronic climax (“Satsuma”) to a spoken word piece over skittering rhythms (“A Lake”, the closer). In between, there’s a lot of intriguing moments and a sense of accumulated atmosphere, with Rossiter’s somber vocals providing an anchor alongside a plethora of chill beats.
In totality,
Shepherd Head is undoubtedly a solid release, especially considering the u-turns which make it, clearly, a different kind of Young Jesus record. While I’m not sure that the album’s scattershot nature will endear it to a broader audience, its tenuous genre affiliations leave a potentially wide range of listeners in the crosshairs. At the very least,
Shepherd Head is worth some spins for longtime Young Jesus fans, even those wary of it given the changes made since
Welcome To Conceptual Beach.
