Labels: House Of Mythology
Review by: Alex Deller
In the ten years I’ve known them, Zu have proven themselves a force to be reckoned with. Channelling the likes of Shellac, Ut and the Ex, theirs is ordinarily a noise forged of lurching, rhythmic pulses, jazzy ululations and awkward, eye-gouging angles. This, by contrast, is a far calmer offering. Taking as its theme the Eastern practise of sky burial (i.e. leaving a corpse on the mountainside and letting nature pick it clean), ‘Jhator’ finds the band in a far more meditative headspace, the album’s two lengthy tracks comprising wheezing rises and falls, subtle throbs and reflective drones that seem fixated on some unclear middle distance. It’s absorbing, enveloping stuff: compelling in its own right, and testament to the power and skill of the band that it manages to stand both alongside and distinctly apart from their noisier, more visceral endeavours.