ALBUM REVIEWS
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ALBUM REVIEWS |
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Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band
13 BLUES FOR THIRTEEN MOONS CONSTELLATION Out now @www.vanguard-online.co.uk Opening with quietly unsettling whining feedback, the mood is set. A momentary pause then a choir intones “one million died to make this sound” while a brittle voice inserts lines above. Suddenly, a grainy cello bow leads into pounding rock a la Arcade Fire, while the intoning continues, now buried in the sound. If that gives you the fears, beware the rest of the album. Four long tracks make up this hour of uneasy listening. If, however, that reminds you of experimental bands like Godspeed You! Black Emperor, then you’re in for a treat. On Constellation Records and distributed through doyen of odd, Southern, this is a slice of the underground – a band that doesn’t intend to sell big and, when presented with a choice, chooses the path less trod. Strained vocals, tortured and arty lyrics, waves of distortion then sudden clear space around a single instrument, that’s the essence of this album. There is a simpatico group-mind at work here, borne of the band’s emphasis on playing live as often as possible and the band manage to combine a basic earthiness with high-flown ambition and pretension. I’d be pushed to say what exactly they were getting at or ‘mean’ but what does that matter, this isn’t a sermon it’s a blow to the soul and the ears, as fancy as you want and as simple as it gets. www.southern.net |