Albums by this artist

Born Into Trouble As Sparks Fly Upward (2001)

Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Ban

Born Into Trouble As Sparks Fly Upward

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» MICHAEL CHAMY | STAFF WRITER

Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Ban Born Into Trouble As Sparks Fly Upward Constellation, 2001 RiYL: What can compare?

Outside in the naked, leafless garden, it is cold, dry and dark. From the crevices in the earth comes a sad sound, worn down by the weight of dark deeds, thoughts and words. The message of the viola is a quiet one, one that whispers warnings in the night, as if to say: "Listen! Learn from me! I am a lifeless husk, a dim shell of a life once bright and full!"

This is the opening track on the renamed A Silver Mt. Zion's second album, and it is also the foul end of Godspeed You Black Emperor!'s apocalypse. That group's combustible timber has ignited, leaving a scarred aftermath in Zion, which shares three members with GYBE!. Yet vestiges of hope slowly reveal themselves, roused into action by a little girl's monologue: "Let's have a parade! Let's promenade down the boulevard!"

"Take These Hands And Throw Them In The River" is the revolution, a violent spasm featuring the tortured, exponentially building vocals of Zion bandleader Efrim Menuck. The rest is again sedate, yet pretty and optimistic in a way that GYBE! is not. "C'monCOMEON (Loose An Endless Longing)" is a page out of the classic Godspeed book of tense buildup and fierce release, but it's the refrain of "The Triumph Of Our Tired Eyes" that lingers: "Musicians are cowards!

Next to these guys, most are.

MICHAEL CHAMY |