Albums of the Year 2024 - Number 65

Marking 40 years of The Jesus And Mary Chain, Glasgow Eyes was recorded at Mogwai’s Castle of Doom studio in Glasgow. Jim and William continued the creative process that resulted in their previous album, 2017’s Damage and Joy, becoming their highest charting album in over twenty years.

What emerged is a record that finds one of the UK’s most influential groups embracing a productive second chapter. Their maelstrom of melody, feedback, and controlled chaos is now informed more audibly by their love for Suicide and Kraftwerk, as well as a fresh appreciation of the less disciplined attitudes found in jazz. Jim Reid says, “But don’t expect ‘the Mary Chain goes jazz.’ People should expect a Jesus and Mary Chain record, and that’s certainly what Glasgow Eyes is. Our creative approach is remarkably the same as it was in 1984, just hit the studio and see what happens. We went in with a bunch of songs and let it take its course. There are no rules, you just do whatever it takes. And there’s a telepathy there - we are those weird not-quite twins that finish each other’s sentences.”

Glasgow Eyes not only extends The Jesus and Mary Chain's story but feels simultaneously like a return to roots. From the incendiary Psychocandy debut and its classic ‘Just Like Honey’ onwards, the Reid brothers steadily became the misfits who made good without compromise.