Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Undoing A Luciferian Towers
Constellation
Canadian post-rock icons Godspeed You! Black Emperor lead with opening track Undoing a Luciferian Towers as first single from their new LP, Luciferian Towers. Known for their multi-layered symphonic compositions, GY!BE have by this point in time well and truly consolidated their place in the canon of post rock. So where to now?
At first glance, Undoing… is most certainly a GY!BE track; a plastering of sonic textures into a steady crescendo at which point the collective’s members settle in and ride home on the seismic waves they have created. A slightly deeper dig and a new-found restraint can be heard, equating to more modes (as opposed to less chaos) for the group to play with.
A new addition on this track are horns and woodwinds provided by guest artists Bonnie Kane and Craig Pedersen. These lead early in the piece in tandem with violin and give the track a neo-pagan, Celtic feel, which is disrupted by modernist blasts of free jazz trumpets and an increased swell of sound from the rest of the collective.
It is via these movements/shifts that GY!BE soundtrack the theme of the track (as posted on the group’s website) of skyscrapers “much later on, hollowed out and stripped bare… the wind is whistling through”. The fact they have achieved this yet again, is almost inconceivable; another stand out performance from GY!BE.
MICHAEL HOLLICK
