May 13, 2022 - Kompakt
Perel’s Jesus Was An Alien is a solid dance opera to ease your summer heartache. You may shy away from it at first based on the title and imagery alone, because, sure, it’s a concept album exploring the nature of religion and “what it implies today.” That’s not exactly a fun thing to think about in a world where institutions crumble at our feet. It’s also not exactly something you want to dance the night away to in the discotheque. In fact, it’s a heavy, aggressive conversation to have, one we dread when we are getting to know each other or eating dinner with our blood relatives. But, don’t be discouraged. Though the subject matter is lofty, Perel keeps things light like she’s telling an electro-pop-disco bedtime story. Existential questions are spoken deadpan out loud and hugged by their airy echoes, surrounded by twinkly arpeggios, punchy drum machines, undulating synth currents, and retro-future ecstasy. Intentional or not, the Brooklyn-based German producer welcomes a bit of absurdity to something we all take very seriously, believers or not. She injects the lead into relatively shallow musical mode, and, with a somewhat innocent approach, overtly mashes together our desire for space and our desire for meaning—two explorations that seem at odds but are one and the same. It’s a cold lens through which a lot of modern German art tradition shows us the ridiculous realities we spend all of our energy on, a paradigm that strips things bare before you. Maybe humans are just ridiculous megalomaniacs pretending to conquer the ocean from ankle-deep waters. Maybe all we are good for is dancing to the beat of our own drums. ☔