"A little background, for the uninitiated: For fans of heavy music—and several of its variously punishing/ terrifying and sad/ethereal permutations—Justin K. Broadrick is a household name. Broadrick first appeared in 1985 as the guitarist in seminal UK grindcore band Napalm Death, and went on to found the similarly influential industrial/metal band Godflesh in 1988. Years after his genre-defining stint in Godflesh, Broadrick re-emerged in 2002 as the leader of Jesu, his current long-running metal project. In Jesu, Broadrick creates slow-moving, shoegaze-like walls of sound and explores melancholic lyrical themes. Broadrick’s newest—and, to many purists, most controversial—venture is Pale Sketcher, in which the artist strips his sound of anything even resembling conventional metal, replacing guitars with synthesizers and drums with machines, but maintaining his penchant for bleakly beautiful sounds.
As the first single released in advance of Jesu: Pale Sketches De-Mixed, Justin K. Broadrick's Ghostly debut as Pale Sketcher, "Can I Go Now (Gone Version)" is more than a fine introduction. The track contains everything Pale Sketcher does best: trash-compactor beats, gently swelling synth pads, and an air of beautiful, post-apocalyptic decay. Broadrick's vocals float above it all, vocoded and reverbed, lending a touch of humanity to the song's machine-aided melancholy. " Find this and much more heavenly music @ Ghostly International
--p.a.t.t.
