Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus - Prog Folk

The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus are a psychedelic neofolk collective from Liverpool, England, formed in 1985. Named after a terrorist group from Spanish director Luis Buñuel's 1977 film, That Obscure Object of Desire, the band were founded by Jon Egan (vocals/guitar/harmonium), David Seddon (keyboards/tenor saxophone), Paul Boyce (vocals/keyboard/clarinet), Sue Boyce (vocals/flute) and Leslie Hampson (vocals/percussion/guitar).

A more aesthetically tenebrous proposition than the Trees Community before them, the Revolutionary Army's Christian mysticism informs their ethereal, genre-blurring sacred music, mixing kraut-folk, tribal ambient, darkwave and neoclassical approaches. Their album imagery and lyrics are inspired by Eastern Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Anglican traditions and sung in English, French, Latin, Greek and Russian. The collective's music is also littered with field recordings and samples taken from Spanish poets, records of eastern European propaganda broadcasts and excerpts from European surrealist films by Jean Cocteau and Andrei Tarkovsky. The Revolutionary Army have received a variety of comparisons to the mystical folk of Dead Can Dance, Woven Hand and Current 93 to composers Henryk Górecki, Ennio Morricone, Gavin Bryars and Arvo Pärt, as well as Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Popol Vuh, Pink Floyd and late-era Talk Talk. The collective are animated by the decline of spirituality with the rise of secular capitalism while also explicitly distancing themselves from the right-wing and fascistic elements of the neofolk genre.

Supported by an ever-changing cast of guest musicians, the collective earned their cult following through their two acclaimed LPs, 1987's The Gift of Tears and 1991's Mirrors, the latter of which featuring the alto saxophone textures of organist Bill Dawson. The Revolutionary Army followed up Mirror with two EPs, 1993's La Liturgie pour la fin du Temps and 1995's Paradis before entering a prolonged hiatus. After nearly twenty years of dormancy, the French label Infrastition invited the collective to have their discography re-released, and a retrospective box set, After the End, followed in 2013. Riding the momentum of the renewed interest in their work, the collective issued their third album, Beauty Will Save the World, in 2015, with the Revolutionary Army now reduced to its core members Egan, Hampson and Paul Boyce and a new array of session players. 2020 saw the release of sister albums Songs of Yearning and Nocturnes.

"The Gift of Tears" (1987)

"Mirror" (1991)

"Beauty Will Save the World" (2015)

"Songs of Yearning" (2020)

"Nocturnes" (2020)

I'm glad to hear; I was considering assigning them to RIO/Avant (a la Księżyc) before settling on PF. I think I like Mirror the most, along with a smattering of tracks from their reunion years (they definitely connect with me more than Dead Can Dance, whom I wish I liked more).

Hugues and Ken: any thoughts?

I'm sure the band would find that apropos!

On the plus side, at least this time it appears if they are bounced back they will be accepted by prog folk. Poor old Nature and Organisation ended up in Prog Related, when they should have been a shoo-in for Prog Folk… 🙄