A Closer Listen
Godspeed You! Black Emperor has been around long enough to see most of its societal fears come true. No longer prophets – because what is left to prophecy? – they continue to be truth-tellers and agitators. More than a quarter century after their formation, GY!BE has much in common with war correspondents and whistleblowers; they’ve seen, protested, and spread the word, and yet in many ways, little has changed. This lends their every album a world-weary aura enhanced by an earned gravitas.
The band’s original impact was made in a relatively short period of time, with five releases from 1997-2002. In this half-decade, they rose from obscurity to make a strong case for being the most influential post-rock band of all time, with a sound that pivoted from reflection to bombast, plus prominent samples of street dialogue. After a decade of studio silence, they returned with 2012’s ALLELUIA! DON’T BEND! ASCEND!, which became A Closer Listen‘s very first album of the year. Leaving out a release of archival material from 1993, Godspeed You! Black Emperor has now equalled the output of their earlier incarnation with their fifth post-resurrection album. One might view this as a culmination of a second stage – because one never knows when or if a new GY!BE album will arrive – or the beginning of a third stage.
On “NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD,” the band seems rejuvenated by anger. As the liner notes declare, “NO TITLE= what gestures make sense while tiny bodies fall? what context? what broken melody?” The ten-strong collective (including Karl Lemieux and Philippe Léonard on 16mm film projections) was recorded in the “winter of bombs 2024,” and since then, the barrage has grown ever louder and more fatal.
The album holds only six tracks, three of them behemoths at the eleven and thirteen-minute marks. This is some of the strongest music GY!BE has released in ages, a fitting reflection of their live performances. “SUN IS A HOLE SUN IS VAPORS” creeps in around the edges, with tendrils of guitar and hints of drone. The first distorted guitar melody seems bright and hopeful, a mood soon to be dashed. The tonal contrast is crucial to the album, as it exposes the wide gap between hope and reality. In this set, the opener is the literal calm before the storm, leading to “BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD” and “RAINDROPS CAST IN LEAD.”
The thunder does roll at the start of “BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD,” marking the welcome return of tape loops and field recordings to the foreground. A vaguely Western sound is apparent, like that of a storm rolling onto a prairie. As so many munitions come from the West, the metaphor is obvious. And yet, in the hands of GY!BE, the timbre is also gorgeous. There’s no rush in a thirteen-minute track, and the percussion arrives as a subtle, supporting presence. Sophie Trudeau’s violin lifts the track to the next level, adding a dramatic, elegiac quality. By the midway point, the track is fully rocking; and then – because this is post-rock – a reflective breakdown, followed by a steady ascent and cathartic peak. The military snares and surging guitars relent only at the end, when Trudeau brings it beautifully home.
Even if we stopped right here, this track would be worth the price of admission. But right away, GY!BE launches into another thirteen-minute track, beginning with the forlorn sound of what may be an abandoned playground swing squeaking in the wind. Again, the build is delicate, the lead guitar almost a surprise when it arrives tw0 and a half minutes in. The difference between this and recent efforts is that the accessible – dare we say, even catchy – parts of these tracks arrive relatively early to engage the listener. In the sixth minute, the welcome return of the dialogue sample, which throws us back to the band’s early stage. The finale may be the most melodic they have ever released, which furthers our suspicion that this is the start of a new era for the band.
“BROKEN SPIRES AT DEAD KAPITAL” is a pensive palette-cleaner, its foreboding undercurrents of bass counterbalanced by inquisitive violin. As the track bleeds directly into “PALE SPECTATOR TAKES PHOTOGRAPHS,” one receives them as movements of the same work, which would make the blended piece a quarter-hour track. The slow, pounding drums presage a darker demeanor, suggesting the scenario of the title; someone must bear witness to the atrocity. As the tone shifts from Western to Middle Eastern, there’s no escaping the associations. In the sixth minute, the mood turns sadder, a reflection of sorrow upon unrelenting sorrow. Despite all this, GY!BE still chooses to end on a note of hope.
“GREY RUBBLE – GREEN SHOOTS” is a succinct summary of the band’s ethos. One protests not just to make noise but to make change, and even in this divided climate, the band believes that change is possible. In the liner notes of Luciferian Towers, they called such things “grand demands;” in the latest liner notes, they write, “don’t give up. pick a side. hang on.” GY!BE has not given up; they’ve been fighting the good fight for three decades, and held on to hope, even when hope has seemed only a tendril. Their new album – their finest, most complete recording in years – may not change any hearts or minds, but it will certainly encourage them. (Richard Allen)
Tue Oct 01 00:01:28 GMT 2024