Ecce Homo
, translated as "behold the man," is the title of
Gavin Friday
's first album in 13 years. The phrase is credited to Pontius Pilate upon presenting Jesus Christ, badly beaten and crowned with thorns, to an angry crowd. Produced with
Dave Ball
and
Michael Heffernan
,
Friday
wrote lyrics to all the songs while his co-producers worked separately and together on the music.
arranged the album. The cast includes
Ball
Heffernan
on synths and
Riccardo Mulhall
handles the drum programming; there are chamber strings, woodwinds, reeds, electric guitars, piano, and basses. There isn't a drum kit in this weave of high art and danceable club sleaze; it's topically drenched in heartbreak, grief, anger, hope, generosity, and affirmation. His complex relationship with Catholicism is evident everywhere in his engagements with love, commitment, eros, relationship, and loneliness.
"Lovesubzero" opens with lilting voices, softly trilling strings, reeds, and piano as he intones, "My love is in your hands/You've only to command/I can see it in your eyes/In a world without end/I bow my head in wonder¿." It sounds like a prayer until the two-minute mark when four-on-the-floor beats explode amid synth pulses and industrial loops.
growls the lyrics in a paean to love and sex accompanied by a women's chorus. The title-track single is the very definition of
PiL
's "death disco." It could have been recorded in a high fashion dance club with its meld of
Pet Shop Boys
camp and
Underworld
's atmospheric beat intensity. It features a women's chorus and a glorious soprano solo by the inimitable
Miriam Blennerhassett
, founding and current member of
Anúna
.
contrasts his world, one of generosity with "kill cult king" culture (aka greedy, god- and spirit-killing men who only understand the language of take). "Stations of the Cross" is dedicated to
Sinéad O'Connor
's longtime friend and collaborator who was supposed to sing on the track. Church bells and a synth bass introduce the music as
sings: "How can I speak when you have not spoken/How can I sleep when all is broken? ¿." before a weave of winds, reeds, sequencers, and programmed beats frame the lyric as it examines the protagonist's self-identity, grief, and eventually, invisibility. "Lady Esquire" is Berlin-era
Bowie
/
Iggy Pop
with a backing chorus in a football-esque chant. "When the World Was Young" is dramatic, mournful, and beautiful in framing a lyric of innocence atop a call to arms for today's youth and is dedicated to
Bono
Guggi
. "Lamento" is the set's most powerful song, an elegiac swirl of strings, synths, and voices, it speaks of letting go, reflecting
's recent losses, including his mother. On "Amaranthus (Love Lies Bleeding)," her voice is sampled with a snippet of the old dancehall song "Daisy Bell." "Cabarotica," an anthem to youthful love, lust, and pleasure, is stomping dancefloor pop. It's true that
's albums have sometimes been misunderstood, but
registers as strong, wildly creative, focused, and vulnerable. It may be his solo masterpiece. ~ Thom Jurek