1-2-Seppuku - MyObsession With Jerusalem(EP)

Fri 15th Sep, 2006 in Music Reviews

If 1-2-Seppuku’s debut EP My Obsession With Jerusalem doesn’t move you, then there’s definitely something wrong. Listening to these four Sydney musicians is a visceral experience. They’ve created some of the most powerfully climatic, ambient noises I’ve personally ever heard. Comprising of three songs, yet lasting twenty minutes, My Obsession With Jerusalem is without doubt something you must become obsessed with.

With a blurred comedic, spoken word introduction, the guitars start on track one, ‘You’re not really a deception’, once:
Okay, let’s forget the bullshit. Get into the so-called art
has been said. The drums start softly as the distortion pedals are employed. Within a minute of the playing the tension builds and the baritone guitar creates a heavy disposition. Then, as the guitars play in unison and the distortion is in full effect, for twenty seconds it feels like you’re being stabbed in the heart. Thankfully the intensity decreases and you’re released by a gently piercing synth sound.

The following track oddly titled ‘Christina Ricci Vs Mira Sorvino’ lasts for nine minutes and is the most advisable nine minutes since Television’s ‘Marquee Moon’. Simultaneously menacing and beautiful, the heavy air that is apparent in ‘You’re not really a deception’ is also present, however it is created via a different means. This tune emphasises pristine silence and then slowly builds upon it with light guitar strumming and soft layering of instruments. 1-2-Seppuku clearly understand and know how to use subtlety and timing to greatest effect, such as by taking a minute and fifteen seconds to dissolve ‘Christina Ricci Vs Mira Sorvino’ which ends with blurred screaming and yelling.

The power within the apocalyptic sounds of 1-2-Seppuku is created by the most delicate and understated changes within the treatment of their instruments. By not intending for anything over the top or excessive, the result is mind-blowing and chilling. With air-play on FBi and supporting locals acts Tucker B’s and Further, it’ll hopefully be no time before an album is out.