One listen for this one.

This is a song I’ve wanted to write about for a while but I feel it’s one that I wasn’t sure I could do well. I think I may have been right about that hesitation, but I imagine that I would have done better had I waited a while longer. Improvement with time and all that.

I think the issue here is that whilst I do get an idea of the song across it took a while to let go, and even then I didn’t let go enough. I think that, other than not being a strong enough writer right now, it also has to do with having strong familiarity with the song.

Jesu’s “Deflated” is from Opiate Sun. The version I wrote about is the demo version which was featured as a bonus track on the Japanese release of the EP. Personally I think the demo version is more interesting due to what was removed for the final version, but maybe that addition didn’t work beyond the demo. It’s also possible that Justin Broadrick was concerned about an overabundance of “solos” on the EP, hence the lack of additional guitar doing something above the main melody on the final version.

I hope you enjoy.

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Guitar rings out whilst bass drifts low and percussion stomps. Soon vocals find their way in and seem to float among it all and melancholy finds its way in. Together all the sounds lock into each other and follow a rhythmic flow. They keep it all together through their descent and drift and move with a sense of ease.

Eventually there’s a sort of pause and additional guitar seems to move and phase above the pause. It goes up, down and up and here, there and everywhere. The other sounds have a brief pause before they look once more at descending. The new guitar stops and the descent commences.

Keys now appear as the original guitar, bass and percussion keep their steady pace. The keys highlight and accentuate and something maybe dreamy and fragile, and certainty comes forward. Soon that new guitar returns and once more it ripples and phases, and calmly howls, and everything seems to grow increasingly overwhelming.

Climactic, yet calm this is and it just envelopes all and pulls something out, and touches in a raw manner. It continues to do so, even when the percussion and new guitar pull away, leaving a few sounds to linger on until the song ends.