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Terra Relicta webmagazine is honoured to offer you an exclusive video premiere of the song "Rose Of The Monolith" by the originally Chilean/Spanish, now based in USA gothic/deathrock band Jesucrisis. The song features also guest guitarist Jay Ravine from the renowned Finnish post-punk band The Flatfield.
Jesucrisis officially released the single "Rose Of The Monolith" on 19th Febuary as a digital version on Bandcamp. The single was recorded in USA and Finland, it was mixed by Lisa Miles and mastered by Matias Ahonen at Audiamond in Finland. "Rose Of The Monolith" is the first single from the forthcoming Jesucrisis album which will be released later this year.
Jesucrisis is now established in North America (Pennsylvania), with founder Vladimir Muñoz continuing his long-standing band in a new home. Since December 2017, he has been writing lyrics and composing songs with violinist Lisa Miles for an intended album and performance internationally. Inspiration newly comes from their gothic old home perched above the three rivers (Allegheny, Monongahela and Ohio), in addition to the natural environment and rich native american history of the area. The main influences of Jesucrisis are bands and artists like Bauhaus, Christian Death, Fields Of The Nephilim, Nick Cave, The Mission and similar.
As bass and electroviolin, with programmed percussion and occasional guest artist collaborators, their material is unique and exotic gothic rock, deathrock, dark post-punk. Their first major work together was put out approximately nine months after they began talk of collaborating - the exclusive single "Serpiente de Nuit", released in November 2017, already showcased Lisa's multi-violin composition with the previous-writ (but unreleased) pen of Vladimir. His unearthed lyrics, as well as dark minimalist bass, were the perfect match to a piece which brought out a new sound to Jesucrisis' "gotico".
With further new songs emerging since his establishment in the States, the body of work of Jesucrisis continues in its vein of excellent and out-of-the ordinary gothic. The band has emerged fully ready to perform as a duo, with concerts they are headlining in Santiago de Chile and for Cueva de Murcielagos (Cave of Bats productions) in Lima, Peru on 30th March 2019. Vladimir's intention is to traverse back to Barcelona (where he lived and performed for almost a decade) and beyond, now with Lisa, who is also a writer and accomplished solo artist within the dark post-punk scene.
Jay Ravine and the guys in The Flatfield collaborated with Lisa on a song, and met her when she herself traveled to the Lumous Gothic festival in Finland in 2017. Soon thereafter, abreast of her travels to Chile, Jay soon became a good friend to not only Lisa but also Vladimir. It was Jay who approached Jesucrisis with the idea of some sort of collaboration, just as Vladimir was getting used to northern hemisphere winters. This song seemed the perfect vehicle for the cross-continental collaboration.
The song "Rose Of The Monolith" is about Baba Yaga, in Slavic folklore is a supernatural being (or one of a trio of sisters) who appears as a deformed, ferocious-looking woman. Baba Yaga flies above and dwells deep in a primitive house of the forest... "Rose Of The Monolith" was conceived by Vladimir shortly into his first winter in Pennsylvania with Lisa. Vladimir wrote lyrics (as well as three bass lines) that bowed to this famous folktale, especially inspired by the magical illustrations of Ivan Bilibin, who portrayed the candle in eye-sockets of skulls held up by posts and carried into the forest by innocent young Vasilisa in the tale.
Captivated by the concept of an innocuous object persisting next to a monumental figure (Vasilisa to Baba Yaga), Vladimir imagined a small flower against towering stone... hence the song name.
Most of the video was shot, casually, in Pennsylvania, while Vladimir was exploring around his new barrio. In the limestone-shaped hillside behind their home is an abandoned street with the ruins of many old house foundations coexisting with overgrown nature. (Long before this, the land was a native american lookout down to the Point of the three rivers of Pittsburgh.) On travails with their dog Jesse in a nearby park, too, Lisa and Vladimir were able to capture images that merged perfectly with newly-penned and imagined lyrics. Jay Ravine then shot some footage from Finland of his beautiful horse, Otto, a desired element in particular for one part of the video. Enjoy listening and watching "Rose Of The Monolith" in the player below.
Jesucrisis links: Facebook, Bandcamp
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