The Jesus Lizard: Cost Of Living
Out Now
Currently starting a tour that will bring them to the UK around early January, The Jesus Lizard bring their wizened brand of excellence back into play with this standalone single, not available on the current album Rack. MK Bennett is bowled over.
Like many of us, time may have bettered and battered them, leaving them looking like a gang of dishevelled lawyers, long since losing the debate on ethics but still making a living. It has not, however, blunted their blissful pig-ignorant, almost savantesque ability to fuck shit up, 132 seconds of rolling back the clock, because if we needed them then, we really need them now.
They were always a band out of time anyway, never fitting any established notions or particular scene. The closest thing to this was The Birthday Party, and by the ’90s, Cave was mostly a piano boy, singing songs to the sensitive. The Jesus Lizard seemed close to dangerous, mysterious American types, dark behind the raincoats types. David Yow, in particular, had the air of a malevolent drunk, or else he was a damn fine actor. So, some 26 years after their last hurrah, a new album, Rank, and a standalone single, this short but perfectly formed thing, Cost Of Living, is missing the definite article but is otherwise perfect for the cold, conservative winter months ahead.
They don’t sound like other bands per se, just an occasional brush past in a corridor, a smattering of others glitter, a little Minor Threat here, a little Captain Beefheart there; it is just as straightforward and primal as it gets. The production is cleaner now, more transparent, and the instrumentation is separated from itself, highlighting the always magnificent but now audibly magnificent rhythm section, a pounding, jazz-like offbeat that shouldn’t work but has worked forever. If there is a chorus, then it is wordless but still has a hook, the riff from the intro doubling up as both chorus and break, while the strangely familiar, near-surf speed metal verse has words for you to decipher at your leisure. Duane’s guitar tone is not as chainsaw/barbed wire as previously but is still as abrasive and slightly discordant as ever; it’s just that now it’s clear as a bell.
Aesthetically, they are still a cut above, with the cover looking like someone on strong acid had been asked to recreate the history of Medieval art from memory quickly. As for what it might be about, David has been quoted as saying ” “Simply because I wrote the words to “Cost of Living” doesn’t mean that I know exactly what it’s about. I think it has to do with the dread and self-loathing that addicts experience on a very regular basis. You can pick whichever type of addict you choose.” When it comes to the lyrics, always keep them guessing, to probably paraphrase Dylan.
Much like the album it sits alongside, this is wonderful, not even slightly mature, razor-sharp, dirty, clean and bristling with fury’s knowledge rock and roll, made into diamonds through concentrated will, all brought to you by the legal team of Denison, Sims, Macneilly and Yow. So good and so short you can essentially just set it on repeat indefinitely.
The Jesus Lizard’s Instagram | Facebook | Website
All words by MK Bennett, you can find his author’s archive here plus his Twitter and Instagram
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