It’s been almost three years since Jesu’s lauded Pale Sketches album came out, so it was rather a surprise then when Justin Broadrick announced he had ‘demixed’ the album, releasing it under the guise of Pale Sketcher. Hence comes an album with fundamental changes to the original, most obviously that where Jesu's Pale Sketches was difficult, the new reinterpretation is supple and drifty, with the droney guitars non-existent and synthesizers taking centre stage.
Don’t Dream It (Mirage Mix) gets things off to a good start, keeping the progressive peaking keys of the original and with a steady, thumping drum beat pinning it together that replace the warped vocals and heavy guitars of the original. This opener explains the new direction – striped back yet not minimal, introspective but no more so than the original. In fact, listening to the demixed track and the original back-to-back you start to realise how incredibly similar the two tracks are. Interestingly, it’s not until the thudding, distorted analogue synth of Can I Go Now (Gone Version) that anyone familiar with the first album will really notice a difference in style or use of layering. The track, once a song which seeped with anger and frustration, has been slowed down into a melancholic symphony of distant vocals.
Perhaps Broadrick’s intentions with such a long gap between the albums is that the two won’t be so closely compared, and will be seen as separate entities rather than companion pieces. Yet judged as an individual release the album runs the risk of being a little too gentle and easy to slip in and out of – at times, in tracks such as Tiny Universes (Interstella), the music verges too close to the dreaded ‘chill-out compilation’ feel. It seem it is with a concept of day into night that the second half of the album is peppered with a little more dread, with tracks such as Plans That Fade (Faded Dub) making use of menacing whirring synths and an irregular drum pattern.
Turning down the static on the original tracks, and twisting the shoe-gaze levels to maximum, this album is going to garner accusations of sacramental vandalism from the fans of the original, whilst generating a whole new raft of devotees attracted to Broadrick’s gentler style. Yet, with its intriguing key shifts, tonal complexities, warped synths and interesting use of vocal samples, there is enough to keep any listener interested and engaged for the duration of its eight tracks.