- Controversy, as Prince once sang, is a saleable commodity. Oscar Wilde wrote, “The only thing worse than being talked about is not being talked about.” Modern media is all about “eyeballs” – put a salacious headline or link up on social media and watch the clicks roll in. Releasing an album called Jesus At The Gay Bar on Good Friday could tick every one of those boxes and one that could be dismissed as just more gauche sensationalism to get “eyeballs” and social media chattering. One could, if the band releasing Jesus At The Gay Bar wasn’t Cub Sport and the contents of this ground-breaking album wasn’t so much of a development for these precocious Meanjin / Brisbane indie-popsters.

Jesus At The Gay Bar is, somewhat surprisingly, the fifth album from the band, who still seem so young and fresh and it is a little gob-smacking to realise they have been around for a good decade or more, though the real progress they have displayed in their work has only been in evidence since 2016 when the band’s dynamo Tim Nelson buried years of fundamentalist Christian homophobia and accepted the love and commitment offered by long time school friend, band mate, one-time lover and now husband, Sam Netterfield. In the wake of the horrific PULSE nightclub massacre in Orlando, Florida (when dozens of people were brutally murdered simply because of their gender and sexual orientation), Cub Sport decided enough was enough and hiding who they were was no longer credible, especially as being talented song writers and performers they had a ready-made platform to show the cisgender, heteronormative world that there was nothing to be ashamed of in being out, loud and proud.

Since 2016, the songs that Nelson has written along with Netterfield, co-vocalist, guitarist and keyboard player Zoe Davis (who is another proud member of the diverse in gender & sexuality community) and Dan Puusaari who provides the all-important beats from both analogue and digital drums; have moved from the more painful angst of teenagers coming to terms with young adulthood on their first album, This Is Our Vice, to the celestial offering on Jesus At The Gay Bar – pun definitely not intended! By dint of the nature of who is writing most of the lyrics, the songs focus on the journey Nelson has had in coming out and developing his relationship with Netterfield: as any writer is told “write what you know about – use your experiences” and Nelson sure has done that. This is not a criticism because the songs have that ethereal quality similar to looking at and being able to handle a precious object, like a glass-blown angel or an exquisite Faberge egg.

Musically, this album has advanced considerably from the previous two albums, the eponymous third album and 2020’s Like Nirvana with Nelson’s production chops being sharpened by his work with Simon Lam (one half of Naarm/Melbourne duo Kllo) and Kaelyn Behr (aka Styalz Fuego), both who have writing credits on the album along with Nat Dunn, Maxwell Byrne, and two of the album’s guest artists Grace Shaw (fellow Meanjin / Brisbane hot property Mallrat) and the incredible Shamir Bailey.

Looking at those two guest tracks, both are so different from each other and also previous work Mallrat and the Cubbies have done together. Yaya featuring Mallrat is beautifully tender and blends Davis, Shaw and Nelson’s voices together in a very clever and artful way. In an album of standout tracks, this one is hard to beat. That said, if you want something uplifting and perfect for a sunny day (or a day when you wished it was sunny and warm), High For The Summer fits the bill and the inclusion of Shamir’s heavenly, almost counter-tenor voice along with Nelson’s is pure joy.

The four singles from the album, Always Got The Love, Replay, Keep Me Safe & Songs About It each heralded that this was to be Cub Sport at their most dancey with several nods to drum'n'bass, dubstep and electro-house, but all done with the eye of a bunch of millennials finding a new way to bring older styles to a freshness that sounds crisp but with heart and emotion. Replay and Keep Me Safe are at times almost too personal to listen to, as Nelson lays bare the inner conflict he felt as a young dentistry student recently out of a fundamentalist Christian high school who wanted to sing, make music and deal with the emotional turmoil within. The personal nature of those lyrics is so important as any young queer person can immediately identify with a line like, “Went and got a girlfriend / Just to throw them off track”. Even this deep into the twenty-first century, emerging diverse in gender and sexuality people still are faced with living shadow lives that they do not need to live – if only society could just accept diversity for what it is, a natural and welcome part of existence.

Another of the beautifully tender songs is Zoom (no, not the ubiquitous method of pandemic induced communication) but something the aforementioned millennials have as a natural part of life – digital photos on your phone and being able to look, focus, and zoom in, indelibly printing that person into the memory banks seemingly forever. Further examples of just how developed the band have become, the complex layering on Beg U and Hold are worthy of acts far beyond their own years of experience. Mention should also be made of the last track, Magic In U, which has a whiff of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe’s playfulness on some of the Pet Shop Boys more dancefloor ready songs. It’s a great way to end the album and have you reaching for whatever control you have to flip the album back to the start and run through the ten tracks again… and again.

In 2021, trans writer Jay Hulme published the poem that gives the album its provocative title, which envisions Jesus Christ visiting a gay bar and being approached by a boy who "beg[s] to be healed", only to be told that "there is nothing in this heart of yours that ever needs to be healed". This work resonated with Nelson deeply and that resonance is found in every note, every beat, ever harmony and blend of instruments on this album. Justifiably, at the time of writing, the album has debuted at number one on the ARIA Album Charts. Justifiably because Cub Sport have matured without losing the glorious sparkle they have always had and have brought to the world a work that will help many younger queer and gender diverse people find words and music that match their feelings and expressions. For older members of that community it gifts the knowledge that the future is in the care of generations empowered to be who they always were meant to be and who have the entirety of human society to affirm and celebrate that diversity of existence. This is the soundtrack of a new age and it is glorious.

- Blair Martin.