z6 000658
€ 10
CD
On first hearing this is a record that sounds lof-fi, rough, noisy, weird and does something with religion. You might even call it ‘the first reli-no wave’ record ever…Deus Cantos is a cooperation between theologist/performer Jacco Weener and Rotterdam underground musicians Bruno Ferro Xavier Da Silva and Lukas Simonis.The idea of the band (and the record) is not pro or anti religion, but it tries to make a statement about the language and musical expression of religion, and to be more specific, about the language and music of christian cults that exist in the USA but are winning grounds in Europe as well. And confront it/them with another form of aesthetics…Of course the record is not only about making statements, trying to be funny, or trying to save some souls… It is a work that was fun to make, fun to play live and that covers ground that hasn’t been touched before -as far as we know…
“Their skill, particularly Da Silva’s ridiculously fluid bass runs and Simonis’s clever pop flourishes, give Weener’s ecstatic visions a solid platform to perform on […] And perform he does, from the wobbling declamations on Get Yourself Ready to the pop dirge of Put Your Fingers On My Body a prospect which, given Weener’s impassioned address, is not as appealing as it first sounds. The funny He Didn’t Have To Do It could be a Sunday School take on PiL’s Fodderstompf. Weener enjoys himself a lot on Follow, which is a great slice of queasy funk with a vocal line that reminds this fried reviewer of Reginald Bosanquet’s Dance With Me whereas Interweaving With The Spirits could be an Al Bowlly vocal played on 17rpm. […] There are things that remind me of early Pere Ubu (not just the shrieks, gargles and groans in Weener’s vocals) but some of the way things are set up; namely brutal contrasts, the favouring of minor chords and abrupt silences. It’s got something of The Residents, too, especially the Mole Trilogy. Hellfire is a singalong of sorts that could be from an Armand Schaubroek record…”
(Richard Foster on Louder Than War)