Reviewed by James Attlee

The RAIJ concept is examined more fully elsewhere in this issue. Within Christian music their sound probably is revolutionary but as any seasoned hack will tell you, there's nothing new under the sun. The collective persona and the 'anonymous' live appearances (hidden behind sheets, etc) hark back to British avant garde rock performers like This Heat; the found' sounds of foreign conversations to Holger Czukay of German group Can. Even the matching of sung liturgies to different beats is not exactly new (the 9 O'clock Service on Sheffield and Enigma's chart entry spring to mind). Having said all this, RAIJ would doubtless maintain they'd heard of none of the above artists, but that's not the point anyway. It is refreshing to hear a religious piece of work that's genuinely trying to break new ground outside the mainstream stylistic straightjacket. The trouble is I like my avant-garde rock 'hard' -anyone who's ever seen Test Dept. live will know what I mean. For my ears RAIJ are not radical enough - when the inevitable melodies break through they sound too simplistic, twee almost. "Theme de 'L'homme Qui Pas Croyes En Lui-Meme'" is just what it says - music for a non-existent film, drawing on Third Man' and Morricone territory, featuring the slightly annoying 'breathy' female vocal that recurrs elsewhere, "Psalm" is recorded live in Prague. We are told the band's travels in the Eastern Bloc have inspired much of the record. Apparently Vaclar Havel likes Lon Reed and The Rolling Stones. So it goes.

The opinions expressed in this article are not necessarily those held by Cross Rhythms. Any expressed views were accurate at the time of publishing but may or may not reflect the views of the individuals concerned at a later date.

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