Thee Silver Mt. Zion and Tra-La-La Band 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons by: Dan Osmolowski Tue:19-Feb-08 Label: Constellation Year: 2008 WB rating 90 out of 100

Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s debut, F#A#∞, cast a large, apocalyptic shadow over the indie music scene upon its release in 1997. So large, the Canadian collective were NME darlings at the zenith of the post-rock hype along with fellow travellers, Mogwai and Sigur Ros. Ten years on and the editors of the English bandwagon-rag must be scratching their heads in bewilderment; totally bemused that such anti-commercial music could have ever ‘spoken’ to it’s considerable readership. While many that sidled up next to GY!BE have fallen by the wayside, sister band Silver Mt. Zion have plugged away and gradually, with each attempt, shifted their sound across nine years and five albums to step out of that expansive silhouette. With 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons, they are finally there.

Despite their genesis as an offshoot from the highly respected Godspeed, Silver Mt. Zion can hardly be regarded as a side project; the band’s output has been greater in number and more regular, and as guitarist Efrim Menuck’s vocal contributions have increased, so has the quality of their recorded work. His singing/screaming is an interesting beast; it possesses a manically inebriated splendour as he shifts from spoken word to guttural explosion, often within the confines of one song. The urgency with which he delivers his lines, and indeed the dark overtones and political themes on the record, reminds of Pink Floyd’s Roger Waters, particularly on 1983’s unfairly maligned, The Final Cut. At other times it is reminiscent of The Pogues’ Shane MacGowan, particularly on ‘Black Waters Blowed/Engine Broke Blues’ where the line, “It was no joke/when your engine broke/and the monster’s came a-brawling” is delivered in a mean Irish brogue, especially for a follower of Judaism living in the second-largest French-speaking city in the world, Montreal. It’s not a voice for all tastes and, depending on your take, you may either praise Menuck’s bravado or berate his arrogance at so blatantly wielding such an unruly and unpredictable set of vocal chords.

The rest of the band’s contributions are similarly boisterous on 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons; electric guitar, double bass, drums, violin, and cello all combine here to provide a formidable sonic fabric. While the instrumentation hasn’t changed over the years, the main lesson the band have learned since their 2000 debut, He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms…, is to immediately grab the listener’s attention. In the early days, A Silver Mt. Zion record would reward patience, finally delivering the knock-out blow after shuffling about the ring, avoiding direct confrontation. On this record, there are no punches pulled. After a brief feedback intro, broken into 12 smaller parts, the album proper begins with ‘1,000,000 Died To Make This Sound’ and what sounds like a foraging forest animal accompanied by some mesmerising female intonations.

As soon as Menuck’s voice is introduced into the mix, the ears prick up instantaneously and a raucous band soon follow with some squalling swamp rock. Each of the album’s four tracks clock in at no less than 13 minutes but it certainly doesn’t feel bloated. Therein lies the beauty of 13 Blues; moods constantly shift, climaxes stretch endlessly skyward and there is rarely room to pause for breath, even during the restrained moments. The title track shares an affinity with Nick Cave’s best demonic epics as Menuck adopts the persona of the horned-one himself, when he cries: “I live by the railroad/I don’t get no sleep/four corners resplendent with indie-rock creeps/I just want some action”. As a band, it’s not the only occasion when they amicably recreate the licking flames of hell, either. On the very same track things break down into a slow blues stomp down by the crossroads but soon quicken and louden to a breakneck, cacophonic pace that would have sent the original Delta bluesmen’s heads spinning.

On ‘Blindblindblind’, the album’s ultimate testimonial, Menuck - as if in direct conversation with a higher being – displays a passion and emotive pull that would shame most ‘classically trained’ vocalists. “May the light of our striving still shine,” he cries as the band tip-toe around him; “love the horse or leave the horse” is the metaphor as the strings swell, the drums crash and Menuck’s own guitar is throttled. When the music finally gives way under it’s own leaden weight and this tale of near-Biblical proportions comes to a close, we are thankful that the protagonists have been spared to fight another day; “slip the leash and the chain”, the band sing in unison as the music falls away, for “some hearts are true”.

The landscape that Silver Mt. Zion paint on 13 Blues For Thirteen Moons is one of desolation, duststorms and desperados. It’s not the future apocalypse of GY!BE’s F#A#∞ and Slow Riot for New Zerø Kanada but rather a present that rests on it’s knees, nearly defeated and pleading for mercy. Such is the beauty of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band on this record, however, that none of these sentiments become onerous or tedious. Conversely, this is the band’s defining statement – powerful, emotional, honest and plain brilliant.