The Jesus And Mary Chain

The Jesus and Mary Chain today set the wheels in motion for a landmark year ahead as they announce the March 8th release of their new album Glasgow Eyes  and single jamcod. The duo - brothers Jim and William Reid - will further mark their 40th year in 2024 with an autobiography (published by Orion/White Rabbit) a major European tour starting in Manchester on March 22nd.

Glasgow Eyes was recorded at Mogwai’s Castle of Doom studio in Glasgow, where Jim and William continued the creative process that resulted in their previous album, 2017’s Damage and Joy, becoming their highest charting album in over twenty years. What emerged is a record that finds one of the UK’s most influential groups embracing a productive second chapter, their maelstrom of melody, feedback and controlled chaos now informed more audibly by their love for Suicide and Kraftwerk  and a fresh appreciation of the less disciplined attitudes found in jazz.

Jim Reid says, “But don’t expect ‘the Mary Chain goes jazz.’ People should expect a Jesus and Mary Chain record, and that’s certainly what ‘Glasgow Eyes’ is. Our creative approach is remarkably the same as it was in 1984, just hit the studio and see what happens. We went in with a bunch of songs and let it take its course. There are no rules, you just do whatever it takes. And there’s a telepathy there - we are those weird not-quite twins that finish each other’s sentences.”

The album’s first single, jamcod, welds dark electronica with the immense guitar sound that can only be that of William Reid creating an instant Mary Chain classic that’s also undeniably fresh and radical.

jamcod and Glasgow Eyes not only extend The Jesus and Mary Chain story, but feel simultaneously like a return to roots. From the incendiary Psychocandy debut and its classic Just Like Honey onwards, the Reid brothers steadily became the misfits who made good without compromise.

Wer damals dabei war, dem pfeifen noch heute die Ohren: Als The Jesus And Mary Chain in der Mitte der Achtziger erstmals die Konzertbühnen betraten, waren sie so laut, schön, schmerzhaft und cool wie keine andere Band dieser Zeit. Psychocandy hieß ihr Debüt, darauf fanden sich die lieblichsten Melodien und die fiesesten Feedbacks, und oft konnte man zwischen beidem keinen Unterschied hören. Vierzig Jahre ist das her, aber auf ihrem neuen Album Glasgow Eyes schließen Jim und William Reid direkt an die Ästhetik ihres Frühwerks an. Man hört ihre Lieder immer noch mit bleiernem Schädel und schmerzenden Hirnseitenlappen – und mit einem Lächeln im Gesicht.