A few years back Jacob Bannon took some time from his busy schedule of providing vocals for Converge and design work for a whole lot of bands to create the as yet and more than likely only Supermachiner album (with Kurt Ballou also of Converge, Ryan Parker, and Seth Bannon of Daltonic). The effort was a foray into ambient music and noise with sparse dashes of vocal involvement. It is a marked departure from anything that Converge has done to this point and serves as a look into the varied abilities that Bannon is capable of putting to use.
A few years later, amid whispers and talks of other projects with various other musicians, his solo project, Dear Lover was announced and then nothing was heard of the ambitious project (if memory serves correctly, there was supposed to be several records to be released at some point) save for a track or demo, which did show some promise and I am not sure if this project will ever see the light of day. Now in my hands as we speak is the first release by Jacob Bannon's solo work under the moniker J. Bannon with the title of The Blood of Thine Enemies, which is a limited one-sided seven inch record.
The packaging and overall design for this record is impressive with its folding cardboard cover that is screen-printed and the etching on the b-side of the actual vinyl. It is visually striking and makes the vinyl release all the more worth the effort of purchasing it. To top it all off, the record comes with a free digital download of the music that is found on the seven inch, which makes it easy to listen to digitally if that is up one's alley.
So, I guess the real question would be how the music on the record is. Basically this is one song that is not what I thought it would sound like. It is a complete surprise given what I have heard from Supermachiner and Dear Lover. The music is a slow hum of electronics that gradually rise in volume to an audible climax while a bass like thrum keeps the rhythm. The surprise is the vocal piece of the song, which is completely unexpected. The more that I listen to it, the more that I want to hear and I eagerly anticipate more from Bannon in this respect.
The only way to get The Blood of Thine Enemies is to order from the Deathwish online store, but hurry because it is limited and will surely be sold out in short order. All I can say about The Blood of Thine Enemies at this point is that I enjoy it a great deal. I just wish there were more than one song.
