Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra N Tra-La-La Band, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons (Constellation)
Formerly known as A Silver Mt. Zion, the expansive Canadian collective Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra N Tra-La-La Band have a penchant for arty sprawl and theatrical excess. On their fifth album, the focus remains on founder Efrim Menuck's core of anchored piano and unfettered vocals, although the other players are just as capable of swirling around him in the instrumental rapture you'd expect from a Godspeed You! Black Emperor offshoot.
In keeping with the title, the first dozen tracks are snippets of a single squeal of noise that total less than a minute. That means the album only truly exists from tracks 13 to 16, with each at least 13 minutes. It's no surprise that Silver Mt. Zion require so much room to expand and contract, but what is surprising is how repetitive an affair this is, both on a large and small scale. Each piece follows the familiar rise-and-fall trajectory of orchestral post-rock, and each ends in the insistent delivery of a single refrain that's drilled into our heads like a cult mantra.
On “1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound,” it's that phrase that's sucked dry. On the title track, it's “I just want some action.” On “Black Waters Blowed/Engine Broke Blues,” it's “We're building train wrecks in the setting sun.” Get the picture? For all the band's epic scope and atmospheric prowess, the players rely too much on Menuck's mush-mouthed singing (think the Pogues) and their Gothic, churchy buildups (think Godspeed), which might have a stronger effect if they weren't so overused.
The album's best moments turn out to be the bluesy and noisy digressions in between the big builds, before everyone in the band looks at one another and decides it's time to finish the song.
One Reply to “[CD Review] Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra N Tra-La-La Band, '13 Blues for Thirteen Moons'”