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Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (previously A Silver Mt. Zion, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band,
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band with Choir and Thee Silver Mountain Reveries) – Albums Collection 2000-2014 (8CD)
FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 2.46 Gb | Scans included
Genre: Post-Rock, Experimental Rock, Noise-Rock | Time: 06:56:59
Born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, A Silver Mt. Zion (just one of its many names) came to life in 1999 as a project for Godspeed You! Black Emperor member Efrim Menuck in his attempt to learn to score music. The original idea was pushed aside, and the project would go on to become a group setting, and was more in touch with the idea of the organic growth and exploration of music than the heavily composed and arranged theoretical work of Godspeed. Inspired to record an album of the music that had been made, Menuck built up the first version of A Silver Mt. Zion, taking on violinist Sophie Trudeau and bassist Thierry Amar, both known as collaborators in the Godspeed family. The band made its live debut in 1999 and released its first album, He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms…, on Constellation in 2000. Still known as A Silver Mt. Zion, the band expanded its membership in 2000 — adding cellist Beckie Foon, guitarist Ian Ilavsky, and violinist Jessica Moss — which led to the first of many name changes.
Now Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, the sextet released recording number two, Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward, in 2001. Another offering, This Is Our Punk-Rock, Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing, arrived in 2003, as the group underwent another name change, adding “with Choir” (the result of adding a 20-member choir to the proceedings). With Godspeed on hiatus in 2004, the band toured extensively in Canada and Europe, as well as performing at that year’s All Tomorrow’s Parties Festival. With new member — number seven — Scott Levine Gilmore (mandolin and guitars) joining shortly thereafter, another name change occurred; the group dropped “with Choir” and became Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. In addition to all of the administrative work, the band released Horses in the Sky in 2005.
In 2008, the band — which managed to keep the same name over the course of two albums, even though a roster change had taken place (Eric Craven replaced Gilmore and drummer David Payant joined) — released 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons. The set featured material written and arranged on the group’s 2007 European tour. The unit contracted to a quintet in 2009 and recorded Kollaps Tradixionales; it was released on Constellation in February of 2010. After a long tour, the band took a break. They returned in January of 2014 with the full-length Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything.
Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thee_Silver_Mt._Zion_Memorial_Orchestra
http://tra-la-la-band.com/
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A Silver Mt. Zion – He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light Sometimes Grace The Corner Of Our Rooms…(2000)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 248 Mb
Label: Constellation | # cst009 | Time: 00:47:10 | Scans included
A Silver Mt. Zion has created a quiet album of beautiful and hypnotic melancholy, giving it the lengthy name He Has Left Us Alone, but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms. With this early 2000 release on Montreal’s Constellation label, Efrim, Thierry, and Sophie of Godspeed You Black Emperor! (also on Constellation) create a sound similar to that of GYBE!, but less mournful and more gentle. Layers of string sections surround inner rings of light echoes, surrounding a core of sparsely played, reverberating guitar. This mostly instrumental album occasionally calls to mind the simple, quiet, and space-filled works of modern composer Peter Garland, as well as the solo albums of Dirty Three guitarist, Mick Turner. Efrim (piano), Thierry (contrebass), and Sophie (violin) are joined by other members of the Montreal bands Godspeed, Exhaust, and more, resulting in an often lush and raw sound that can include drums, clarinet, guitar, and tape loops. Dedicated to Efrim’s late dog, Wanda, this release is in keeping with the other serious and vulnerable music found in the Constellation catalogue.
Joslyn Layne, Allmusic.com
Tracklist:
“Lonely As The Sound Of Lying On The Ground Of An Airplane Going Down.”
01. (i) broken chords can sing a little. (08:39)
02. (ii) sit in the middle of three galloping dogs. (05:08)
03. (iii) stumble then rise on some awkward morning. (06:04)
04. (iv) movie (never made). (03:23)
“The World Is SickSICK;(So Kiss Me Quick)!
01. (i) 13 angels standing guard ’round the side of your bed. (07:22)
02. (ii) long march rocket or doomed airliner. (00:05)
03. (iii) blown-out joy from heaven’s mercied hole. (09:47)
04. (iv) for wanda. (06:38)
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Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & The Tra-la-la Band -
- “Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward.” (2001)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 324 Mb
Label: Constellation | # cst018-2 | Time: 00:58:23 | Scans included
For their sophomore release, A Silver Mt. Zion has expanded and changed their name, adding three more members to make the original trio of Efrim, Thierry, and Sophie from Godspeed You Black Emperor! a sextet at their core, plus the addition of a huge horn section (one heavily overdubbed contributor on trumpet and trombone) and various others lending vocal, atmospheric, percussive, and textural support. The three new members — Becky, Jessica, and Iain — fill out the band’s sound with a denser string presence, which creates a backdrop for piano and eventually, electric guitars and drums. This band is like the mirror image of Godspeed You Black Emperor!; things evolve more slowly and melodically, and they open onto themselves. One example is the opener, “Sisters! Brothers! Small Boats of Fire Are Falling From the Sky!,” where a lone violin and piano are eventually engaged by more strings and high, whining guitars that grow out into chord progressions that build on the ostinato of the theme but never, never explode. On “Could’ve Moved Mountains,” the strings open up sad vistas in the heart of sound itself and are caressed by a guitar streaming, ever so slowly, along the underside of the mix before it reshapes the tune in its own image. This is music constructed with the same sense of dynamic and attention to detail, from echo and flange to masked vocals and the shimmer in cymbals, but it is so stunningly, heartbreakingly beautiful in its unfolding that for it to reach any other conclusion than to fall apart or disintegrate at the end of each piece would be to violate it somehow. As it is, the music on Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward is devastating in its beauty and ghostly in its articulation. We can only wonder what spirits came from the ether to inform this vision, and be glad they did.
Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com
Tracklist:
01. Sisters! Brothers! Small Boats Of Fire Are Falling From The Sky! (09:07)
02. This Gentle Hearts Like Shot Bird’s Fallen. (05:47)
03. Built Then Burn [Hurrah! Hurrah!] (05:41)
04. Take These Hands And Throw Them In The River. (06:59)
05. Could’ve Moved Mountains… (10:59)
06. Tho You Are Gone I Still Often Walk W/You. (04:48)
07. C’monCOMEON(Loose An Endless Longing.) (08:06)
08. The Triumph Of Our Tired Eyes. (06:54)
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Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-la-la Band with The Choir –
- “This Is Our Punk-Rock,” Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing, (2003) [Repost]
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 337 Mb
Label: Constellation | # CST027-2 | Time: 00:57:42 | Scans included
Things just keep getting bigger with A Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. This album, their third, sees another incremental change in the band name, and a bump in membership. Though still the core septet from their previous effort, they are joined this time by a 22-member choir. So, with the change in the makeup of the band comes a change in their sound. And on This Is Our Punk-Rock Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing, A Silver Mt. Zion have finally gotten huge. Opening track “Sow Some Lonesome Corner So Many Flowers Bloom” moves the group out of the shadow of Godspeed You Black Emperor! and into their own. The choir take the front of the stage, singing simple “fa-la-la” lyrics in a dramatic melodic progression, expressing a purpose in ways that Godspeed has only hinted at. Halfway through the choir stops and are replaced by a guitar and violin duet that swims in the melancholy waters of the first album, before erupting into a majestic climax with a full band. Whereas in the past the band has refrained from really delivering on a build-up, here all caution is thrown to the wind and it is comparable to the highest peaks of the GYBE! discography. The remaining tracks all feature Efrim on vocals, his cracked voice recalling Will Oldham’s Palace, with an Appalachian folk vibe running throughout. Granted, this would be folk music of the saddest sort, but paired with a Quebecois’ hopefulness in place of American despair. This Is Our Punk-Rock is the most satisfying and rewarding album that A Silver Mt. Zion have delivered.
James Mason, Allmusic.com
Tracklist:
01. Sow Some Lonesome Corner So Many Flowers Bloom (16:27)
02. Babylon Was Built on Fire / Starsnostars. (14:44)
03. American Motor Over Smoldered Field… (12:05)
04. Goodbye Desolate Railyard. (14:25)
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Thee Silver Mountain Reveries – The “Pretty Little Lightning Paw” E.P. (2004)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 176 Mb
Label: Constellation | # cst030-2 | Time: 00:30:18 | Scans included
Thee Silver Mountain Reveries (formerly The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band with Choir, and before that, simply A Silver Mt. Zion) is, if you want to get down to brass tacks, a different permutation of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, the central hub from which the spokes of the Canadian post-rock scene seem to radiate. One of the most common accusations leveled at Godspeed is that their music is “just one long crescendo,” and it’s a complaint I’ve never understood. For one, “crescendo,” when understood to mean “a peak,” describes the moment when the music is at its most powerful, emphatic and cathartic: the aural equivalent of an orgasm. If this is the case, then hey, an hour-long orgasm doesn’t sound like anything to gripe about to me (in theory, I should add).
But moreover, while “crescendo” often describes “a peak” in modern usage, that isn’t what it means. “Crescendo” connotes not just the climax, but the climax and the entire slow-burning build toward it. It’s not just the money shot, but all the foreplay and thrusting that preceded it. Calling a climax a crescendo is like calling a birth a pregnancy, and slow, dramatic intensification is pretty much Godspeed’s modus operandi– to deride them for it is to admit that they fulfill the terms of their artistic engagement, and is about as redundant as inveighing against a fantasy/adventure film for the implausibility of its plot.
Whatever the word means to you, crescendo-haters who like Godspeed’s overall style but can’t get down with the bombast might look more favorably on Thee Silver Mountain Reveries’ Pretty Little Lightning Paw EP. The disc benefits from many of Godspeed’s concrete tactics (diverse instrumentation, nested political polemics, long compositions with several distinct “movements”), as well as their more abstract ones (a certain incandescence, a tension between beauty and dread, a sense of light falling like rain). And there’s nary a blatant crescendo– be it build or climax– to be found.
Pretty Little Lightning Paw also profits from canning the aggressively off-key Choir who belted out discordant shapenote harmonies all over their previous LP, This is Our Punk-Rock, Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing. Of course, the jarring nature of the choir was intentional, and no doubt absolutely salient in terms of the album’s overall political and aesthetic program. But it also frustratingly obscured what was otherwise entirely lovely music, and soon enough emoted the record right out of my collection.’ Rather, Pretty Little Lightning Paw wafts through its four movements with equanimity and grace.
I’ve always felt “post-rock” to be a misnomer when applied to Godspeed, who seem more “post-classical” or “pre-something-heretofore-undreamt-of” than anything else, and The Silver Mountain Whatevers have generally followed suit. But the first track on Pretty Little Lightning Paw, “More Action! Less Tears!”, is exactly what post-rock would be in a perfect world where words meant what they actually mean. It opens with a shout (“Hello? There will be a meeting of the action committee in five minutes!”), followed by flag-waving rock guitars and a production value straight off of GBV’s Bee Thousand, which lends the record a startling initial momentum uncommon to the genre. In other words, it sounds like something it would take Godspeed half an hour to build up to.
Like the remainder of the EP, “Microphones in the Trees” features Efrim Menuck’s quavering, paranoid singing about “cameras in the sky” and such; on this track his voice is modulated with an echo effect within a glacial piano/bass/guitar figure that repeatedly accumulates and sheds feedback and choral harmonies (small doses, small doses) in a 10-minute quest for cacophony. The title track sounds like a slowed-down, vintage RZA beat, all fractured minor-key shapes and syncopated drums. It sounds how a reflected neon glow on freshly fallen snow looks, and should excite those who pine for the days before Black Heart Procession went bossanova. And finally, “There’s a River in the Valley Made of Melting Snow” closes the EP with Menuck’s most confident singing yet, stretched out over buzzing, staticky sheets of guitar.
I don’t know what Thee Silver Mountain Reveries have in store for their next recording, but I think they’re on the right track with this one. Less is more, and if “a crescendo” must mean “a peak,” that still doesn’t mean it has to be overly dense or noisy– if you were to drop a straight pin for an hour, then dropping a ten-penny nail might be all the release you need.
Brian Howe, Pitchfork.com
Tracklist:
01. More Action! Less Tears! (05:20)
02. Microphones In The Trees (09:47)
03. Pretty Little Lightning Paw (10:01)
04. There’s A River In The Valley Made Of Melting Snow (05:08)
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Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-la-la Band – Horses In The Sky (2005)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 327 Mb
Label: Constellation | # cst033-2 | Time: 00:58:12 | Scans included
By 2005′s Horses in the Sky it was undeniable — Silver Mount Zion, which started out as a sort of companion band to Godspeed You Black Emperor!, had grown out of the shadow of its parent band completely, blossoming into its own beautiful thing. The relationship between the bands though could still serve as the basis for description of where exactly Silver Mt. Zion (or Thee Silver Mount Zion Reveries and Tra-La-La Band with Choir, if you like) ended up. If Godspeed You Black Emperor! painted the world on the brink of some indefinite, soul-crushing apocalypse-type disaster, creating a panorama of the end of time which was profoundly striking and richly detailed yet strangely impersonal, then Silver Mount Zion found themselves on the other side of that same collapse, providing a voice for its human victims — lost, hurt, confused, and bewildered yet still yearning for some hope and meaning amidst all the rubble. On their previous record, This Is Our Punk-Rock, Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing, the band already took some tentative steps towards abandoning their moody soundscapes in favor of full-fledged songs, and here they pursue the same direction baldly, confidently, and without looking back. Efrim Menuck’s quivering, earnest voice is much more a focal point of the band’s music than ever before (which, understandably, may be quite a stumbling block for a lot of listeners) yet however an acquired taste his vocals may be, there’s a furious conviction in his performance which more than makes up for it.
This determination is shared by the whole band throughout the record. Consider “God Bless our Dead Marines,” the opening track, which moves trough a number of twists and turns during its dozen minutes. Starting off slowly with ominous strings and some apocalyptic imagery from Menuck (“They put angels in the electric chairs”) it gradually builds into a beautifully ramshackle dirge suggesting a sort of East European carnival orchestra stumbling drunkenly down the hillside in the dark, before shifting gears and transforming into a majestic and beautiful march. The drama builds as Menuck sings about losing friends to various personal catastrophes (“Lost a friend to cocaine, lost a friend to health, lost a friend to suicide, lost a friend to shame, lost a friend to monsters” etc) and then suddenly, with the same earnestness and intensity, he continues “I love my dog, and she loves me, the world is mad, and so are we” — and soon the song changes yet again, moving to a poignant, piano-led coda, with Menuck and the choir softly repeating the lines “When the world is sick, can anyone be well, but I dreamt we all were beautiful and strong.” It’s huge, dramatic, darkly funny, and heartbreakingly beautiful — and it’s only the first song of the record.
Though this type of epic songwriting is probably what they’re best known for (and what’s usually expected of them), it’s far from the only mode the band work in on Horses in the Sky. There’s a surprising simplicity to many of these tracks. For instance, the title track is a rather straightforward protest song dressed up as an introspective, sad folk tune; for most of its running time it consists of only a voice and an acoustic guitar. During another highlight, the (also) mostly acoustic “Hang On to Each Other,” an actual crackling of campfire can be heard, as bandmembers sing “Hang on to each other and any fucking thing you love” in a quietly intense manner suggesting a bunch of close friends mourning over their inevitable separation in the face of impending doom. It’s this mixture of urgency and beauty, insistent hope and quiet desperation, epic ambitions and staggering simplicity that elevates Silver Mount Zion beyond any sort of post-rock tagged playground, where they never really belonged to begin with, to a much higher (and much less populated) plane reserved for truly great bands and truly great records. Because with Horses in the Sky, Silver Mount Zion clearly made such a record, and in the process, essentially, became such a band.
Sergey Mesenov, Allmusic.com
Tracklist:
01. God Bless Our Dead Marines (11:44)
02. Mountains Made Of Steam (09:28)
03. Horses In The Sky (06:39)
04. Teddy Roosevelt’s Guns (09:45)
05. Hang On To Each Other (06:38)
06. Ring Them Bells (Freedom Has Come And Gone) (13:58)
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Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band – 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons (2008)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 378 Mb
Label: Constellation | # CST051-2 | Time: 00:59:11 | Scans included
Perhaps the finest band on a very, very fine Canadian label, Constellation Records, Silver Mount Zion returns with 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons, their first record since the near-masterpiece Horses in the Sky. Released in 2005, that record established Silver Mount Zion as a musical force all its own, existing beyond any sort of stylistic boundaries. On their follow-up, the band luckily, remarkably, continue to grow, evolve, and get even better. Things start in a deceptively familiar fashion on “1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound” (which is billed as track 13, preceded by 70 seconds of random, high-pitched sounds divided into 12 short tracks) strings are plucked quietly, a choir is singing softly, and Efrim Menuck enters with his usual quivering vocals, until some three minutes in, when everything quietly fades away. And then it starts for real. After a brief pause, the whole band kicks in with an astounding, utterly unexpected fervor and volume, and the song is immediately transformed into a huge, soaring rock anthem reaching up to the skies. Frankly, it’s quite a thrill to hear Silver Mount Zion kick up a maelstrom of sound like that; simply put, they have never rocked that hard, or that convincingly, in their entire career.
Even the noisiest, loudest moments of Godspeed You Black Emperor! never hinted at such fiery abandonment. Those sonic explosions were always incredibly tight and precisely controlled, whereas this new noise of Silver Mount Zion possesses an unpredictable, dangerous edge. It’s their call to arms, if you will, and if the band were to truly go out on the streets with this music, it’d surely present a matter of worrying for whatever establishment they’d choose to rally against. It’s only fitting that during the preceding tour, where Silver Mount Zion road-tested much of this material, the title track — an ugly, raging beast of a song known as “We Just Want Some Action” — could well stand as the title of this whole collection. Such a shift in sound can even be perceived as a political statement of sorts, embodying a collective voice of people who used to be quiet and keep to themselves but are now unable to remain silent and intend to inform the powers that be that they are not going to take it any longer. Whatever that “it” might be — ongoing war, oil prices, poverty, hunger, social unrest, signs of Apocalypse — it’s really beside the point; what matters is a simple act of first raising your head and then your voice and your fist.
It’s not all sound and fury, of course. There are enough quiet moments amidst all the chaos. “1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound” ends with a gracefully restrained coda, and 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons comes down from its truly aggressive start to a contemplative middle section only to build to another explosive climax, twice. Still, even as the band tries to play it quietly, the noise comes insistently bubbling to the surface, as in the more traditionally Silver Mount Zion-esque “Black Water Bowled/ Engine Broke Blues.” The closing “blindblindblind,” meanwhile, starts quietly and is almost lovely, and then builds to another raucous finale, only this time the band sound not angry or rioting, but uplifting and almost rapturous. And perhaps that’s the most singular achievement of 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons, how the band known for its relentlessly bleak and desperate outlook manage to maintain enough spirit to close its most righteous, furious record on a note that’s full of grace, beauty, and hope. Silver Mount Zion were already way ahead of many of their contemporaries, but 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons sees them blazing past even further, up and away, to some unexplored, perhaps dangerous, but tremendously exciting new horizons of artistic expression. It might be not really safe to keep up, but it’s impossible not to.
Sergey Mesenov, Allmusic.com
Tracklist:
01. (Untitled) (00:05)
02. (Untitled) (00:04)
03. (Untitled) (00:04)
04. (Untitled) (00:05)
05. (Untitled) (00:06)
06. (Untitled) (00:05)
07. (Untitled) (00:06)
08. (Untitled) (00:06)
09. (Untitled) (00:06)
10. (Untitled) (00:07)
11. (Untitled) (00:07)
12. (Untitled) (00:11)
13. 1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound (14:42)
14. 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons (16:46)
15. Black Waters Blowed/Engine Broke Blues (13:07)
16. BlindBlindBlind (13:17)
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Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – Kollaps Tradixionales (2010) [Repost]
XLD | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 378 Mb
Label: Constellation | # CST063-1 | Time: 00:56:39 | Scans included
The sixth album from the many-monikered incarnations of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (with another slight name change) offers a renewed sense of purpose in the studio after personnel changes pared the group down to a quintet. Along with founding members guitarist/lead vocalist Efrim Menuck, violinist Sophie Trudeau, and contrabassist Thierry Amar, are Dave Payant on drums, organ, and piano, and violinist Jessica Moss. Longtime fans are in for a shock on “There Is a Light,” the 15-minute opening track. Menuck’s quavering vocals are looser, less concerned with pitch than ever before. It begins as a slow, mournful balladic waltz with electric guitar, and strings lilting underneath his voice. (For some reason, though we’ve heard it before, it takes some getting used to for a couple of minutes here.) It feels like a hymn, and his lyrics exhort even as they grieve; they’re punctuated at the three-minute mark with horns; then, at four minutes, the tune begins its lift-off, becoming a dramatic, expansive rock paean with TSMZMO’s trademark dynamics and complex textures rising and falling numerous times before the song concludes with everyone singing as a choir, unfettered. “I Built Myself a Metal Bird” is a full-on Stooges-like rocker, with raging guitars, drums, and Menuck’s vocal swaggering on the front edge. It’s followed by “I Fed My Metal Bird the Wings of Other Metal Birds,” a six-minute coda that begins haltingly and then explodes into full-on prog rock dynamism. The title track — with three different title variations — is a three-part, 13-minute suite that ranges from faltering experimentalism to a punishing, transcendent, rockist power play by its finale. The set closes with the 14-minute monolith “’Piphany Rambler,” that ushers itself in as a droning, mutant slide guitar and organ blues before beginning the first of its many mutations (some of them with horns), eventually ending as a blown-out, wasted anthemic elegy. This is another chapter in the sonic evolution that began with the name A Silver Mt. Zion, and contains many more dimensions, layers, and textures. It pushes harder and further with much less, yet comes across as no less raggedly and poetically majestic.
Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com
Tracklist:
01. There Is Light (15:19)
02. I Built Myself A Metal Bird (06:17)
03. I Fed My Metal Bird The Wings Of Other Metal Birds (06:18)
04. Kollapz Tradixional (Thee Olde Dirty Flag) (06:09)
05. Collapse Traditional (For Darling) (01:28)
06. Kollaps Tradicional (Bury 3 Dynamos) (06:48)
07. ‘Piphany Rambler (14:18)
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Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra – Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything (2014)
EAC | FLAC | Tracks (Cue&Log) ~ 352 Mb
Label: Constellation | # CST099-2 | Time: 00:49:17 | Scans included
On their first offering in three years, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra up the ante in urgent, angry style. While the foundations for the music on Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything were forged on 2010′s Kollaps Tradixionales, they’ve come into sharper, weightier focus here. Efrim Menuck’s gift for intimate, sweeping melody remains, but it’s usually woven underneath a rafter-rattling 21st century meld of punk, metal, folk forms, and more. Three of this set’s six tracks are over ten minutes in length — and well worth the sprawl. Opener “Fuck Off Get Free (For the Island of Montreal)” commences with a child’s voice: “We live on the island called Montreal, and we make a lot of noise because we love each other.” This proves to be a mission statement for the entire album. Menuck’s searing guitar and atmospheric Mellotron, Thierry Amar’s throbbing bassline, the strings of Jessica Morris and Sophie Trudeau, and David Payant’s clattering drum kit whip things into a frenzy of rage and righteousness: “…While pennies pile, the hoarders smile and proclaim/That what we want we’ll never be/In between we fuck and dream at living free again….” Throughout, Menuck’s lyrics are political and polemical, but they’re never cloying or obvious. “Austerity Blues” commences with a strummed acoustic guitar and several voices in loose harmony, but grows tenser with each moment until it erupts into an orgy of strings, shredding guitar, exploding tom-toms, and a spine-shaking bassline — all inside of two minutes. “Take Away These Early Grave Blues” weaves together post-millennial hardcore, swamp blues, black metal drumming, vanguard power guitar, sonic keyboard washes, and a sawing Franco-Celtic string melody woven through a cacophonous roar; it’s complete with crescendos, interludes, and a dynamic finish. “What We Loved Was Not Enough” begins almost as an ambient elegy; a two-chord Mellotron vamp is gently mirrored by strings. When Menuck begins singing, it’s mournful, just drenched in loss, as if the John Lydon of early PiL were delivering a broken parlor song. Within three minutes this lonely waltz begins to unfurl with frustration and rage. Before it gets out of hand, it tamps itself down again, but cannot be contained and rips free of its bonds toward maelstrom. But the true impact of Menuck’s song cannot be expressed by energy alone, so it downshifts again. This time, the rest of the group sings sweetly behind him, repeating the chorus over and over again under his world-weary voice, gradually covering it over. Only their voices and that tender melody that exists beyond all sadness remain. On Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything, Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra sound more vital and musical than ever. Only shared feelings of helplessness and powerlessness fueled by equal measures of desperation and hope could summon an anger focused enough to create art such as this. In this band’s collective heart, rock & roll is still a force reckoned with personally and politically.
Thom Jurek, Allmusic.com
Tracklist:
01. Fuck Off Get Free (For The Island Of Montreal) (10:22)
02. Austerity Blues (14:18)
03. Take Away These Early Grave Blues (06:47)
04. Little Ones Run (02:30)
05. What We Loved Was Not Enough (11:23)
06. Rains Thru The Roof At Thee Grande Ballroom (For Capital Steez) (03:58)
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