Lord Jesus are a new “doom-gaze” duo based in Seattle, and the latest act to join the Holiday Breath Records roster. Lead Samantha Christine (Programmes, Kingsbury) is joined by Ezekiel J. Rudick (of Young Elk), the pair bringing together a mutual experience of playing in lots of bands to collaborate on a record of “heavy, reverb-laden songs steeped in a mix of shoegaze and doom rock.”
The result is a sound in constant tension, with heaviness and lightness competing to be the lasting impression. However, the two appear intrinsically linked, just as there can be no dark without light or hope without despair. Instead, there’s a constant, never-ending cycle, a push and pull between sludgy and soaring where neither can ever triumph. And with it an interesting, nuanced atmosphere that refuses to surrender to convention.
We will have to wait for the record, which is due for release later this year, but in anticipation, Lord Jesus have released their debut single. Titled ‘Wait’, the song establishes the band’s aesthetic perfectly, pop hooks plunged into a dark pool of reverb, almost crushed beneath the weight pressing down from above. The band cite everything from Low to Fugazi as influences, and it’s not hard to see why. Floaty, dreamy vocals ride updrafts between storms of dense fuzz, guitar and percussion landing with real weight.