Search - J Church :: Horror of Life

Cookie Metaphor

Steech | Birmingham, AL | 06/19/2008

(3 out of 5 stars)

"J Church songs. J Church 7"'s. J Church records and CD's. On mix tapes; in the car; drunken get-togethers; at my desk at work. The landscape of my entire adult life is dotted with evidence of this band. And yet there's not a single album that is a logical place to begin, or even a single great one out of the entire (massive) body of recordings. But for the sake of this exercise, let's begin at the end and investigate just what is is about J Church that was worth all the hubbub.



You see, J Church is the sonic equivalent of comfort food. It's consumed with about the same amount of relish and in the same pattern as a box of cookies. Cookies make you feel good and there will never be a time in your life when you don't eat cookies.



And like cookies, there is a seemingly endless bounty of J Church. When you get the craving for more, you only have to go get some. It's there waiting for you and it seems like it will never run out. There are, conservatively, about a hojillion J Church recordings.



So why buy this particular record? Well, because it's a very J Church-y J Church album, without sounding exactly like any other J Church album.



This record is to 2007 what their 1996 album was to 1996. That's so hard to explain, but please try to understand. This doesn't sound like Drama of Alienation, but it's the same as Drama of Alienation. It "feels" the same. If you put it in the radio and drive around town with the windows down, it feels the same as it did 12 years ago doing the same with that earlier record. It's an extremely serendipitous thing and it makes the band into an enigma.



Unfortuntatly, the cookie metaphor doesn't exactly work. While it will take the average human many years to acquire and appreciate the whole body of J Church's work, there will be a time when the seemingly endless reserve will be depleted.



Luckily, I don't think there will ever be an end to occasions to drive around town with the windows down, lounge around the house with the radio on, drink beers with your friends, and make mix tapes. And since that's likely true, this band, and this album will never be obsolete."