Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra // Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Every Thing
Seventh album from Constellation's most interesting if challenging band. Hard listening but rewarding.
Release date: 20th January 2014
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra // 'Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Every Thing' (Constellation)
Expanding from a trio to an octet, but now a five-piece, Thee Silver Mt. Zion is an ever changing outfit from Montreal. Consistently one of the more interesting, if challenging acts in the Constellation roster, SMZ’s various line-ups have included members of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Esmerine, Black Ox Orkestar and Pink Mountaintops.
The sound is a dense, woozy combination of classical, punk, space rock, French Canadian folk and Middle Eastern traditional music. 'Fuck Off Get Free' (For the Island of Montreal)' splices 'Penis Envy'- era Crass with Deep Purple's 'Space Truckin'. 'Austerity Blues' is ram jammed by Hawkwind with a chamber string ensemble.
The music can at times be reminiscent of Arcade Fire, albeit far more dangerous, chaotic and rebellious Arcade Fire. The playing and almost choral backing vocals of Thierry, Efrim, Jessica, Sophie and David is often stupendous but the sheer density of the sound may be testing for non-fans or those that are new to the band, also true of Efrim’s snotty, whiney Neil Young-meets-John Lydon vocals.
Not easy listening but ultimately rewarding, this isn’t as brilliant as SMZ’s 'Horses in the Sky', but still recommended.
Pavlis 8/10
