Cross - Justice

So I’m looking through the Warner Music catalogue for the next CD to review and I see a cover with a huge black and gold crucifix on it and the album is titled Cross and the artist is named Justice.

Cross? Justice? Is this a mainstream album that tackles the theme of substitutionary atonement? This could be an interesting album warranting Christian comment, I think to myself.

I look down at the track list and I see song titles like ‘Genesis’, ‘Let There Be Light’ and ‘Waters of Nazareth’.

Oh my, I think, this is just asking to be reviewed. So, a few days later I receive the CD and put it on for my first listen, having never heard of the artist and having no idea what their style would be.

Well, this album was not at all what I was expecting on a number of counts.

Firstly, the album is in the electronica/dance genre. Paris-based production duo Gaspard Augé and Xavier de Rosnay make up Justice. Fellow French dance act Daft Punk are a very close reference point in terms of the sound of this album.

As a fan of Daft Punk, let me say I thoroughly enjoyed this album. In fact, I felt that Cross is what Daft Punk’s 2005 album Human After All should have been. It is really great!

Radio listeners are likely to have heard the hit single ‘D.A.N.C.E.’ which is quite possibly the catchiest dance song to be released this year. Its retro sound mixed with English choir kids voices and Michael Jackson references will make it a delight to the ears of fans of dance and pop. Oh sure, the lyrics have no significant meaning whatsoever: “Do the dance, you’re always there for music and me,” but boy, it’s great electronica.

Secondly, Cross did not offer any of the material for Christian discussion that I was expecting.

Introductory tracks ‘Genesis’ and ‘Let There Be Light’ are both instrumental, so no worldview is put forward in the lyrics. The songs very much reminded me of Daft Punk’s second album Discovery but in a positive way rather than derivative one.

Christians will know that many instrumental classical and easy listening CDs are released as ‘Christian music’ presumably with the idea that the calming sounds assist us in prayer, meditation or reflection upon God. Personally, I view such marketing cynically.

I believe labelling a particular style of music as ‘more godly’ or ‘helpful for Christian reflection’ than another merely betrays one’s personal taste. After all, recent trends in the Christian music market show that genres like hip-hop and heavy metal, which were for a long time condemned outright by Christian conservatives because of their association with certain vices, have proved to be worthwhile musical expressions when Christians appropriate the forms and imbue them with Christian lyrical content.

That said, neither of the above tracks guided my mind to particularly reflect on God and his creation, neither did they particularly lead me away from entering into such reflection. 

And so it goes with most of the album. The majority of Cross’s tracks are instrumental and therefore push no discernable worldview or agenda. Each track did, however, remind me of other music artists I enjoy.

‘New Jack’ and ‘Phantom’ were very Homework-era Daft Punk. ‘Phantom Part 2’ had elements of Nine Inch Nails, Aphex Twin and Fatboy Slim (mainly because of the repetitive annoying sounds he likes to use at the end of his songs). ‘Valentine’ was very Supertramp, minus the lyrics. ‘Stress’ reminded me of The Chemical Brothers’ ‘Come With Us’.

To conclude my review, I’d like to refer to the two other songs on the album actually containing intelligible lyrics.

‘The Party’ and ‘DVNO’, which are back to back on the album, almost play like two halves of the same song – a female version followed by a male one.

‘The Party’ is from the perspective of an archetypal Parish Hilton-type woman who is getting ready for a night of partying on the town. She talks unashamedly about her superficiality:

“Let me tell you what I do when my day is over.
After picking the right clothes for about an hour.
Oooh, I’m turning orange from all the carats around my neck.
Tonight, I’m takin’ out the bling and I’m dressed to impress.”

Then she shares of her drunken behaviour:

“Throwin’ back a couple bottles and then the tabs on me.
Having some giggles then we start to get crazy.
Table dancin’, smashin’ glasses, its nice to get naughty.”

And finally she boasts of her sexual exploits:

“Just got in the hotel room and this is getting started.
Better wake the f*** up cause’ were not here to sleep”

‘The Party’ sticks out like a sore, distasteful thumb on the album both stylistically and due to its lyrical content.

While ‘DVNO’ is sung by a male, he is less crass, but equally as superficial and arrogant as the lady of ‘The Party’. He boasts of his ability to get into exclusive clubs, get the attention of all the girls and be the best dancer on the floor. If you doubt his prowess he tell us: “No need to ask my name, to figure out how cool I am”.

In these two tracks, Justice lay bare the superficiality of the dance club scene. However, they seem to celebrate it rather then commenting upon its drawbacks.

Overall, Cross is one of 2007’s strongest electronica albums and for the most part is sure to be a pleaser at any party or gathering. 

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