The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus

The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus

The Revolutionary Army of the Infant Jesus is an experimental music collective from Liverpool, active from 1987 to the present. It forms in 1985 and includes founding members Dave Seddon, Jon Egan, Sue Boyce and Paul Boyce, with Leslie Hampson joining shortly afterwards.

Style and themes

The group makes music that combines folk and sacred music with industrial and ambient sounds, along with samples. It is associated with neofolk and has drawn comparisons with Current 93 and Death in June, as well as Dead Can Dance, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Arvo Pärt. Its work uses Christian imagery and symbolism and draws particular inspiration from the Eastern Church, especially iconography.

Performance and presentation

In concert, the group uses multimedia elements and film clips from directors such as Andrei Tarkovsky. Its performances also include ritual movement and field recordings.

Releases

The group's early releases appear on Probe Plus: the albums The Gift of Tears and Mirror, and the EPs La Liturgie Pour La Fin Du Temps and Paradis. After a long period without new recordings, its catalogue is reissued in 2013 as After The End on the French label Infrastition. The album Beauty Will Save The World follows on Occultation Recordings in 2015. The Gift of Tears is reissued in 2015 and Mirror in 2017. The single I Carry The Sun/Falling appears in 2020, also on Occultation, and the album Songs of Yearning is listed on the same label, alongside a limited edition release titled Nocturnes.

Name

The group's name refers to the terrorist group in Luis Buñuel's final film, That Obscure Object of Desire.