The Revolutionary Army of The Infant Jesus Announce New 12” EP 'Devotion To A Noble Ideal' Released 25th April 2025 via 9x9 Records

Preorder - HERE

Liverpool Experimental Outfit Release New Single ‘Object of Desire’ Digitally For The First Time
4th February 2025

Stream and share - HERE
Private listen - HERE

Extremely Rare Live Show Announced - 2nd May 2025 @ Capstone Theatre, Liverpool

Tickets on sale now - HERE

Reissue 12” LP & CD Rumours of Angels
Released 2nd May 2025

Preorder - HERE

Liverpool cult experimental band The Revolutionary Army of The Infant Jesus are pleased to announce a bumper crop of news, starting with the release of a brand new EP titled Devotion to a Noble Ideal on 25th April 2025 via local label 9x9 Records, with their single ‘Object of Desire’ on DSPs for the first time on 4th February 2025.

The band’s first EP release, DTANI was recorded at Crosstown Studios, Liverpool and Sound Gallery Studios, Exeter, and the EP was engineered by Jon Lawton, produced by Jon Lawton and RAIJ, and mastered by Ste Cole at What Studio. It consists of 2 remixed tracks from last year’s The Dream We Carry LP plus a remix of 'Avatars' from Songs of Yearning, and a brand new track 'After The Silence'.

Part retrospective and part reimagining of their work, the EP contains 4 tracks, each produced in collaboration with a different creative partner, offering a sometimes radical reinterpretation of three previous works as well as one new piece. It is a startling body of material from the Liverpool based art house collective that, nearly 40 years since its inception, continues to evolve.

Commenting on the release, the band say: “This work is the continuation of a journey – from a point of knowing to not knowing. It is the seeking of new meaning through creative collaborations that deconstruct and rebuild our work. It travels with the familiar over unfamiliar ground – with a sense of direction but an unknown destination - creating fresh perspectives through new points of departure, deviations and encounters. It is an exploration of beauty and truth driven by a devotion to that which is truly beautiful and also beautifully true. It is a search for enlightenment through new forms of expression and new forms of thought, and for a deeper sense of connection that will bring us back to the starting point - renewed.”

Initially released as part of the 2013 set After The End, their Rumours of Angels LP now also becomes its own entity, with an official reissue on 2nd May 2025 including additional track ‘Mouvement’.

The band will play a very special and extremely rare live show in celebration of the new releases on 2nd May at Liverpool’s Capstone Theatre, with tickets on sale now.

The forthcoming reissue of their Rumours of Angels LP is a collection of studio and live material that spans a period of significant transition for the project, recorded in between the full studio albums Mirror (1990) and Beauty Will Save the World (2015). It includes material from the EP collections, Liturgie Pour La Fin Du Temps (1992) and Paradis (1995), as well as live recordings in Leipzig (reflecting here something of the sense of the immersive multimedia practice, elements of ritual, enigmatic samples and field recordings that was constructed for the live RAIJ live experience).

This collection also includes studio material recorded specifically for the release of a 3 CD back catalogue compilation After the End by French label Infrastition in 2013.

RoA tracks a diverse range of recording and performance styles for RAIJ, and documents the end of the first active phase of the project and, with the recording of After the End and Suspended on a Cross, the beginning of the new. The collective is much changed and much the same. There are clear connections between the early project and today, and some of these connections are traced here on Rumours of Angels.

To this day, RAIJ continues to enjoy a certain reclusive status and to confound musical classification with a commitment to a unique form of musical and artistic experimentation.


New EP Devotion to a Noble Ideal is released 25th April 2025

Rumours of Angels LP & CD reissued 2nd May 2025


Live Dates:

02.05.25 - Liverpool - Capstone Theatre

Devotion To A Noble Ideal EP tracklist:

Side A
Equinox (Jon Lawton Remix)
After the Silence (Dorothy Bird Remix)

Side B
Avatars (The Orchestra of the Northern Territories Remix)
Voices – (Blood of Achilles Remix)

Rumours of Angels LP tracklist:

Side A
Cantata Sacra (5:32)
Le Monde Du Silence (5:05) Dies Irae (8:06)

Side B
Psalm (live) (12:07)

Side C
Paradis (10:46)
She Moved Through The Fair (7:32)

Side D
The Parable (Of The Singing Ringing Tree) (6:04)
Suspended Upon A Cross (3:48)
Mouvement (3:02) After The End (2:13)

 

The RAIJ collective:
Paul Boyce OBE
Eliza Carew
Leslie Hampson
Jessie Main

More info:
2025 marks the 40th anniversary of the formation of RAIJ, a unique experimental ensemble whose work goes beyond music. Formed in Liverpool, England in 1985 by Dave Seddon, Jon Egan, and Sue and Paul Boyce, the group were soon joined by Leslie Hampson. Their name is a reference to the terrorist group in Luis Buñuel's final film, That Obscure Object of Desire.

For nearly 40 years the band’s cult following has grown—their mesmerising recorded material is influenced by diverse cultural perspectives and stimulates a deeply personal and subjective awakening. Ethereal vocals, ambient compositions, chants, acoustic instrumentation and field recordings generate beautiful and emotionally intense soundscapes.

An arresting blend of folk and sacred music, industrial and ambient sounds, and samples, their music has drawn comparisons to neofolk artists like Current 93 and Death in June, as well as artists including Dead Can Dance, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Henryk Górecki, and Arvo Pärt.

The group incorporates Christian imagery and symbolism into their music, and specifically draws inspiration from the Eastern Church, especially its use of icons. At their rare live concerts, the group incorporates multimedia and film clips from directors like Andrei Tarkovsky into their performances, as well as ritual movements and field recordings.

Their enigmatic and erratic approach to releasing music over the years has won them a legion of cult fans, including BBC Radio 6music’s Stuart Maconie, with press and radio alike evangelising the band at every turn of their storied career.
 

Contributing Artists:
Dorothy Bird, a musician and singer-songwriter based between Liverpool and Berlin, blends electronic and acoustic instruments to create haunting atmospheres and captivating beats. Leading with heartbreaking delicacy and a clear sense of artistic intention, Dorothy’s songs express complex emotions and ideas, soothing the soul and welcoming a moment of calm and freedom from the chaos of the world. 

Blood of Achilles is a Liverpool based band playing heavy, progressive alt-rock music. Formed by a quartet of veterans from the Liverpool music scene in early 2020, the band blend weighty riffs, intricate melodies, and vocals that range pure & harmonious to harsh & visceral. 

The Orchestra of the Northern Territories is a chamber orchestra ensemble. Based in northern Europe, ONT is a flexible ensemble composed of international chamber musicians, renowned for performing new classical works in non-traditional spaces.  

Jon Lawton is a musician, producer and sound engineer. Jon owns and operates Crosstown Studios in Liverpool and produced RAIJ’s last album The Dream We Carry. A prolific creative force, appearing on hundreds of commercially released tracks as well as performing concerts in over 40 different countries, Jon had become a key creative partner to RAIJ.