Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band plays
"Horses In The Sky"
Who among us will avenge Ms. Nina Simone?
THIS WAS THE BAND... (everyone sang, and handclapped too...)
- Beckie = Steadfast bow-grind, muddy birdwing glissanto (violin).
- Efrim = Worried yelps + weepy hollers. Helicopter tremolo + too much delay... (vocals, guitar, tape loops and piano).
- Ian = Sweet giant claw pluckings, 7 fingered chords + constant troubled brow... (guitar).
- Jessica = Semitonal crayon smears, flameout krash-landings... (violin).
- Scott = Interdisciplinary baltimore diagonals, bullfrog mallets... (drums).
- Sophie = Broken red tooth echo hiccups, downward gluestick plummets... (cello).
- Thierry = Worried bass as load bearing wall, pan-octave fingertip ruckus... (bass).
(Dead marine, horse, + tumbling bird drawn by Luc Paradis; side 4 etching by Nadia Moss...; everything else was scavenged, pilfered, scribbled or collaged by Mt. Zion...)
This was our stormy ending!
"Horses In The Sky" is Thee Silver Mt. Zion's fifth release to date. Another member was added to the ensemble, Scott, who plays the drums. Together, the seven former members of Godspeed You Black Emperor! continue to blow minds and create beautifully heart-crushing melodies. Efrim continues to bleet out paranoid and sick lyrics that fit so well to the musical backdrop. This release is rather different in the fact that every song has lyrics. Combining Efrim's voice and words with The Tra-La-La-La Band's amature yet talented choir abilities creates a whole new sound. The tracklist is as follows:
- God Bless our Dead Marines
- Mountains Made of Steam
- Horses in the Sky
- Teddy Roosevelt's Guns
- Hang On to Each Other
- Ring Them Bells (Freedom Has Come and Gone)
Not surprisingly there are strong political (or anti-political) statements underneath this album on the first and last tracks. The fourth track also has political ideologies but the song's more about Canada than it is the United States or government. According to the band the rest of the songs are love songs (truelytruelytruely...). The first track also has a small spot for Wanda (Efrims dearly departed dog), or his new dog, I can't really be sure. Also in the first track there's a small bit about drug addiction. I'm not really all that aware of what status that has in the band. Either way, this album ties "He Has Left Us Alone But Shafts Of Light Sometimes Still Grace The Corners Of Our Room..." as my favorite. Both albums are ridden with such beauty. They're both so powerful yet in their own way. "He Has Left Us Alone..." is probably one of the most (if not the most) emotionally taxing album I own. It's a whirlwind of emotions, ideas, love, hate, beauty. But this CD, it's on it's own level. What makes this album so different is Efrim's vocals. This is the first full-length Mt. Zion record to have lyrics on every song. His worried and torn voice puts forth an array of poetry that really hits deep with the listener. Strangely, if I were to recommend a Mt. Zion CD to a person who hadn't heard them before, I'd still tell them to listen to "He Has Left Us Alone..." For me, that's still the defining album of this ensemble. But right after that cd, "Horses In The Sky" is sitting, shining with all of its might to attract any worried souls that need chance to escape.
Of course the album was recorded in the illustrious Hotel2Tango but also, "Hang on to Each Other" was recorded around a campfire.
Fin.
I swear that all I ever ever ever ever ever ever believed in was all of us together all along.
Please note that some of the information in this writeup is misspelled and not grammatically correct. This is because it's taken straight from the liner notes and parts of the actual cd case. My pseudo-apologies.
| 
