The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads is the debut studio album from Denton, Texas-based indie rock trio Lift to Experience. The double album was released on June 26, 2001, and is thus far the only full-length recording from the band. A concept album about the Second Coming of Jesus Christ that "casts Texas as the Promised Land", it was produced by guitarist/vocalist Josh T. Pearson, and mixing was handled by Simon Raymonde and Robin Guthrie, both of Cocteau Twins fame. The album was released on Guthrie and Raymonde's record label Bella Union. Receiving very little attention upon release, the album gradually found an audience via the internet and has developed a minor cult following. The Texas-Jerusalem Crossroads was described by AllMusic reviewer Tim DiGravina as "blend[ing] My Bloody Valentine's sonic feedback with Kitchens of Distinction's swirling atmosphere and the grace of Jeff Buckley", with DiGravina adding, "What could have been a tiresome exploration of awkward religious theories is instead a spellbinding journey into the heart of human emotion and guitar dynamics". Although Lift to Experience never officially announced a disbandment, the band splintered shortly after the album's release, with Pearson re-emerging as a solo artist in the 2010s. The album was remastered and reissued for its 15-year anniversary by Mute Records on February 3, 2017. The album was reissued across three separate formats, all featuring revised artwork: a 2-CD set; a double vinyl LP set pressed on blue and red colored vinyl; and a deluxe 4-LP box set including the band's first demo EP and live recordings. The reissue coincides with the band's reunion and performance at Meltdown Festival 2016 curated by Elbow frontman Guy Garvey.
I didn't know this and it was certainly not what I expected after seeing the album art and reading the wiki page. It's a nice mess of post-rock, shoe gaze and indie rock. I like the concept of the album. Too bad not all the tracks are of the same high quality and the album is too long and a bit incohesive.
Having a weird déjà vu moment where I could've sworn I'd already listened to this one as part of the list. In any case, I'm glad to have the chance to give it another listen because if I already did, I sure didn't appreciate it at the time. While I'm definitely giving subconscious brownie points as a native Texan, the sheer expanse of this LP is flooring and worthy in its own right – each track is anthemic in its own right, and every nook and cranny of these lengthy songs has clearly been thought out and executed to the fullest. Even with pioneering bands like Wednesday and Greet Death (who this reminded me a lot of) bringing countrygaze to the masses, it's still a niche genre with few practitioners, so it was cool to add another qualified band to the list. My main qualm with this LP was the lack of breathing room – not every track can be massive, and dynamic contrast exists for a reason. There's almost too much of a good thing here as well, the chunky runtime drowning out some of the more impressive moments on the album. Cut this down to an hour or so and it's a lean, mean 5-star gut punch of guitar in concept album form. Finally, hidden tracks that are cloaked behind 15+ minutes of silence are a personal pet peeve (but hidden tracks in general are cool!). Despite these nitpicks, I really enjoyed this LP for being so radically different and committing fully to its conceptual bit. Shame these guys haven't put out anything further, would've been interested to hear their artistic development on a second full-length. There is some badassery to dropping an album of this length/caliber as your debut and promptly disappearing though, and it was a great addition to the list all-in-all.