Having found their way into John Peel's good books and caught the attention of the national media with their 2003 album Cold Water Songs, The Broken Family Band bring us more of their unhinged country/pop/folk/rock hybrid in the form of a mini album of songs about Jesus. Yes, I was initially slightly suspicious of it too, but it turns out there was no need this record is yet further proof of TBFB's ability to craft perfect, twisted pop songs.
The opening track, Walking Back To Jesus Part One begins with an ethereal, delicately plucked acoustic guitar playing like white sunlight upon the room if heaven were a recording studio (and I'm fairly sure it is) it would sound exactly like this. This satisfying sound permeates the whole record, a recording which is always squeaky clean without ever sounding clinical, with enough fret noises and cracked vocals to give it a comfortable sense of intimacy. As the unnerving bass line and the refrain "Hold my hand / 'cause we're walking back to Jesus" enter, you get the impression they're less walking and more edging along a precipice back to Jesus, over a gaping canyon. In true Broken Family Band style, a torrent of distortion comes out of nowhere and knocks you off your feet, before returning to mellow country folk, leaving you wondering quite what just happened.
The band explain that this isn't a proclamation of religious faith, nor is it a denunciation of it, but something in between, and this is reflected in the lyrics. The third track is a cover of Neutral Milk Hotel's The King Of Carrot Flowers Parts Two & Three (slower than the original, such that you can actually hear the words much more clearly), boldly declaring "I love you Jesus ChristŠ" while Walking Back To Jesus Part Two muses "Walking back to Jesus, but you know that I don't feel his love as deeply as you do / he could have saved my family, sometimes I think you just forgetŠ". Thankfully, though, the whole record is not about Jesus some songs are about TBFB's other favourite topics, love and family, making only passing references to Jesus in the verse.
If you're partial to catchy melodies, inspired lyrics and unusual arrangements which bear the marks of eclecticism and a good ear for production, The Broken Family Band might well float your metaphorical boat. Jesus Songs provides and worthy follow-up to Cold Water Songs, and we can only hope that they will continue making records of this quality for a long time to come.
-Hannah Wright