Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada
(Kranky)
Have you ever gotten an album by a group and been blown-away by it, then gone out and got the very next album, took it home and listened to it and been even more blown-away by it? That’s how I’m feeling about Godspeed You Black Emperor! right about now. It was just a couple months ago that I first heard their amazing first disc f#a# infinity and now they’ve released an EP of 2 new songs (and almost 30 minutes in length) that continues down their musical path in striding leaps and bounds.
While their first album was completely beautiful (and even more amazing considering it was a debut that came out with no hype and buzz), it had just a few spots where I felt that the music drew near the line of boring simply because it seemed like the group didn’t know what to do and they let things drift off too much.. On their new EP, however, the songs are much more tight and there is a constant urgency and almost thrilling edge to the music because you know it’s going somewhere, but you’re just not quite sure how you’re going to get there and what it’s going to sound like on the way. Once again the tracks are long, sprawling pieces, but as mentioned before, there is much less downtime on each one and once the songs do get to the payoff, they really get to it. The first track "moya" is really not much more than a 10-minute long crescendo that layers upon itself and slowly builds until a super-finale that will leave you begging for more. With the almost 18-minute second track "Blaise Baily Finnegan II," you do. A little less steady than the first track, "Blaise" leads you along, hinting at bigger things until it finally swells beyond control again. The multi-multi- layered instrumentation is once again amazing and once it’s over you want even more. The thing about most cinematic-sounding music is that it naturally relies on your attachment to a set of images (as with soundtracks) to sort of guide it along. Chances are, if you haven't seen a movie, then you probably won't buy a certain score. Take away the film, and most scores don't stand on their own very well. And this is where GYBE! comes into play. Not only is their music cinematic in scope, but it's evocative enough to allow the listener to imagine their own landscapes to go along with the music. Really, it's a 30-minute journey that you simply need to take.
Rating: 9.5
