Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything

 

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra - Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything

(2014)

My copy: 2014 press by Constellation.

Most recent album from the expanded form of Canada’s A Silver Mt. Zion, core member Efrim Menuck proves again that long, indulgent titles work best when they are attached to long, indulgent songs. That said, Menuck and co.’s brand of churning post-rock-meets-punk is actually moving enough to justify their overtly pretentious naming conventions. 

Standing at just six mostly longer songs, this is actually one of their shorter records; kicking off with A tremolo-layered 10-minute title track that hyper-focuses on a convincingly jubilant main melody that is married surprisingly well to Menuck’s slightly awkward punk sneering. Where Silver Mt. Zion prevails most is their intricate layering of strings: not terribly much happens from a structural standpoint, but several violins reflect off of the ever-burning tremolo guitar to create a new and visceral take on post-rock. The songs do get heavy and dense as well, the intro track itself moving from swaying, carefree anarchy into waves of hostile distortion. 

“Austerity Blues” justifies its length the least, but does use tension well enough to warrant the rhythm section’s take on post-punk at the halfway mark. For such an “orchestral” setup they do manage to avoid unnecessary or insincere drama, though the voices reach an operatic level to good effect on multiple occasions. A standout, Eastern melody feels delightfully at home in the center of “Take Away The Early Grave Blues,” wherein the passionate string playing borders on boot-stomping southern-rock (the layman may be led to google “difference between violin and fiddle”). 

Vaguely gloomy “Little Ones Run” is the perfect breath of fresh air for an album that has, to this point, largely consisted of tense walls of nonstop strumming, providing mildly dissonant piano and highlighted female vocals as a break from the agitated static. Sobering organ and pale drones introduce us to the best of the long songs (“What We Loved Was Not Enough”) which uses repetition in tandem with Menuck’s off-kilter, emotional whine to create an exuberant cascade of instrumental solos. The drums across the record are mostly unorthodox for rock - sticking to booming tom beats as in finale “Rains Thru The Roof At The Grande Ballroom,” which is notably gaunt and dejected when compared to the grandiose melodies of the earlier tracks. While relatively dour, this closer is woefully nostalgic and touching. 

The production on Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything is almost as roomy as its mouthful title, but they work with a washed-out sound better than most other off-shoots of rock. The notion of fusing post-rock with a punk ethos sounds cheaply novel on the surface, but leave it to a GY!BE offshoot to work the combo into an array of vigorous crescendos. Except where Godspeed’s crescendos sometimes feel too planned out, Silver Mt. Zion ensures the music is unstable enough to lend their buildups a certain improvisational authenticity (even if none exists).