The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-la-la Band - Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward
(Constellation)
You love the Godspeed. You live for the Godspeed. Your hungry little hands pick up anything that the Montreal ensemble has committed itself to. And usually, you say to yourself: "well, this album might not be great, but listen to that ________", inserting whatever instrument the member who's project it is playing. And then, after that, you probably say something like: "Yeah, man, it's really political, but, you know, in a good way..." No, not in a good way! Godspeed's politics of world doom might have played well in 1997, when they released F#A#(infinity), but it's grown oh-so-stagnant. Especially in times like these, when many people's thoughts are turning to doom. Does anyone really want another record by One-Speed Bike or Exhaust? Godspeed, stop it! Efrim, stop it! Everyone knows that you're the one responsible for the out-there, mostly-iffy political slant. But hey, it sells the records, right?
That isn't to say I'm not a huge GYBE! supporter. The crescendos, the dissonance, the found sound... I love it! So, naturally, I'm also the type to be inclined towards the not always reliable side-project area. You can't imagine how many times I've looked at my record collection, where I have copies of albums by Exhaust, Fly Pan Am, and Molasses, and not uttered a little sigh for the dollars lost. Yes, I've been suckered by the GYBE-machine.
A Silver Mt. Zion, on the other hand, released last year a beautiful album full of stripped down, emotionally raw tracks. Easily a highlight from the Constellation catalogue, and something that I don't think anyone's regretted purchasing. Seriously, listen to a song like "Movie (Never Made)." Raw, emotional, pleading, excellent. What more can be said? Of course, the debut album (He Has Left Us Alone...), was an elegy for a dying dog, so it was imbued with piles and piles of genuine feeling, but I never expected ASMZ (now known as the Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band) to change so dramatically.
First off, they've doubled the band size... so don't go in expecting something intimate and stripped down. It's more like... well, it's more like Godspeed-junior. Two violinists, two guitarists, bass, cello, and Efrim, everyone's favourite bearded doomsayer, playing a host of different instruments, as well as doing a little bit of the singing. So. Let's go through the goods and the bads, shall we? First of all, the bads.
Politics. It isn't even cool anymore. It's gone from being meaningful to just being a farce. Do you really think anyone is going to take you seriously when you have a song called "Built Then Burnt [Hurrah! Hurrah!]", on which a child (!) angrily rants (!!) through the first three minutes? This isn't a joke, people. Check out this "monologue": "Dear Brothers and sisters, dear enemies and friends, why are we all so alone here? All we need is a little more hope, a little more joy. All we need is a little more light. A little less weight, a little more freedom." Wow, that's a big statement coming from you, Efrim, especially since you live in the most oppressed country in the world... Canada. Oh, wait, my bad... Canada is one of the least oppressed countries in the world. Whoops. Oh well, props for incorporating some Les Miserables science... Not only this! The same child comes on briefly at the end of the record to say, in a rather sing-song voice: "When we finally cross the barricades, with the angels on our sides... when we finally deny all the popular lies, when we finally let doubt and worry die... How will it feel?" What barricades? What the hell are you talking about?! Sure, it's a bold statement... but it was used in Les fucking Miserables! Just because you're French doesn't mean you're Victor Hugo.
Next up on my list of grievances: the screaming on track four. Why? Why?! This was included for no apparent reason except, perhaps, for "atmosphere," and it spoils what might have been a neat track. And another thing! I hinted at this before, but I'm getting really tired of the long titles. The first track, called "Sisters! Brothers! Small Boats of Fire Are Falling From the Sky!" The second track, entitled "This Gentle Hearts Like Shot Bird's Fallen." Good God, stop the pretension. When did it go from being about making good, moving music, to just supporting a rather weak political stance with zany titles? Sometime after Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven?! Probably. And what are the politics here, by the way? I get some Victor Hugo ripoffs (and by the way, the Quebec City protests are in no way near similar to the French revolution, if that is what you're getting at, Efrim), some ill-used tape manipulating, the hackneyed "world doom" idea that the band's been playing on forever, and a drawing of a bird with a sign that says "please believe" hanging from it's claws. No one does it better than... Jello Biafra. Or Hank Rollins. Or Propaghandi. Or the Minutemen. Or anyone besides Efrim. There have been some neat insights on previous records--namely the Blaise Bailey Finnegan interviews and some of the found sound that Godspeed uses--but none of it is here.
Alright, here's the last bad thing about this album. Are you ready? The "chorus" of the final track, "The Triumph of Our Tired Eyes." Efrim howls "musicians are cowards!" over, and over, and over. If that's not hypocrisy, what is it? Seeing as the band is influenced by so many artists who have not been cowardly, in any way, with their music. Want me to break it down? Godspeed You Black Emperor, and, by that right, A Silver Mt. Zion (I refuse to use the new name) are a creamy smooth milkshake, made up of Mogwai (the crescendos), early Tortoise (the whole "post-rock aesthetic"), Slint, Pink Floyd (the sprawling songs), the Boredoms (the dissonance), Rachel's (arrangements), and Rodan (that beautiful production value). So, saying that "musicians are cowards" is a really bold--and, as previously mentioned, hypocritical--statement. But at least you've got the found sound! Oh, wait...
Vast amounts of grievances aside, I'd like to talk about what brings this album up out of the mire of other Godspeed related projects. First of all, the core of this group--being Efrim, Thierry and Sophie--are all core members of GYBE, and their musicality shines through. One of my favourite GYBE moments is on Lift Your Skinny Fists..., when, after a lulling interlude, everything breaks down and crescendos upwards, layering the tension on so perfectly that it gives me that tingly feeling on the back of my neck that only comes when the music really moves you. These guys realize the power of the crescendo, especially on songs like "Take These Hands and Throw Them in the River," which starts out all distorted and skronky, and then builds its way to cacophony. As well, even though "The Triumph of Our Tired Eyes" has about the worst line ever penned (see last paragraph), the instrumentation, along with Efrim's underused voice, creates simple beauty. A shame they had to wreck it with the kid coming in at the end. Anyway...
ASMZ always have at least one or two incredible songs on their albums. On He Has Left Us Alone... it was "Movie (Never Made)" (which still gets my vote for one of the saddest songs of 2000) and "Sit in the Middle of Three Galloping Dogs." Here it's the epic centerpiece, "Could've Moved Mountains..."--not only does it build beautifully (its eleven minutes long), but, like on "Movie (Never Made)," Efrim gets to throw down some great lyrics. Check these out: "Please believe/that labour and hope and joy/cause like a little boy, I have destroyed/hope and joy/and lately, I dream about/angels/with molotovs/and nightly, they fist me/with wrists like tender trucks/I'm scared." The words are a bit disgusting at one point, but the delivery, the disillusionment, the instrumentation, and Efrim's criminally underused voice create an incredible piece of music. Think of a more instrumentally adept Black Heart Procession. When he comes in with the refrain, "these hands could have moved mountains," and a sorrowful violin begins to play, it makes me want to cry. And you see, this song, like "Movie (Never Made)," is barren, and devoid of any sort of iffy politics. It's just beautiful. Songs like this one don't die. They stick around forever.
In summation: is it worth your time and money to get the new ASMZ? I think so. It beats the collective output of Exhaust, Molasses, the Shalabi Effect, One-Speed Bike, and Fly Pan Am, combined. A silver Mt. Zion really is the best Godspeed side-project. So much so, that they should not even be relegated to that no-man's land of broken dreams. A Silver Mt. Zion are a band unto themselves, sounding, yes, remarkably like the other Montreal based doom-saying ensemble, but having a certain charm that is their own. Just don't say I didn't warn you about the angry little boy ranting at the beginning of a song.
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