| It's not unreasonable to say that the Montreal group godspeed Godspeed You Black Emperor! have been one of the most highly feted groups around. Long awaited would be an understatement in regard to this album. Appropriately titled, Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven was recorded at Chemical Sounds in Toronto, with 4 track snippets and field recordings added in Montreal. After months of touring the band is at the peak of its powers. They've spread an audio net out across the continent, recording the static on the radio, the random airwave proselytizing and the corporate spokesvoice of the service station that are the companions of the long distance driver. Whether it's rickety piano melody, the gentle foreplay of strings, the roil of guitars and drums, or a reminscence about sleeping on the beach at Coney Island, Godspeed You Black Emperor! work on the smallest and grandest of scales [often simultaneously].
The devotion the band has inspired is not only well deserved, but continues to spread. Lift... ups the ante with more power [especially rhythmically] honed to perfect by the band's near constant touring. Nearly two years after the recording of the Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada the band's studio skills have sharpened, bringing the guitars to a howl and the drums to a rumble. The two CDs work well as discrete units or as one extended work. |