Kirstiecat | Blog

8/4/6
and 8/5/6 (early show)
Empty Bottle Chicago

Wow…it’s difficult to express in words how amazing these shows were. First, even though I really like A Silver Mt. Zion’s albums, the songs somehow felt more intense seeing them live. I listened to a couple of the albums again after seeing them and it enhanced my listening afterwards too. On Constellation Records, A Silver Mt. Zion is a separate band from Godspeed You! Black Emperor but shares many of the same musicians, which are also a part of the opener on Friday night’s show: Black Ox Orchestra. A Silver Mt. Zion is a postmodern orchestra much in the same vain as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and with political leanings as well but the main difference is Efrim Menuck’s vocals, which are odd and strained. Yet, it doesn’t matter that Efrim isn’t a classically trained singer because, unlike so many, he actually has something to say and it’s vital. It’s also clear that as much as Efrim is technically the “frontman” to modern audiences, he aims for the band to function as a whole and they did work well with eachother in a way that made clear the fact that they were all in it together. The seven of them included two guitars, two violins, a stand up bass bowed instead of plucked as well as a cello and drums (in some songs) within their repatoire. The instruments were fed through various pedals to create an interesting effect. At times, they joined in singing in an eccentric chorus bound to make one shiver.

The main difference between the two nights was the presence of a greater sense of fragility in Saturday’s early show. There were three songs in common between the setlists: “God Bless Our Dead Marines,” “Take These Hands and Throw Them in the River,” and a new song entitled “Blind Blind Blind.” But unlike Saturday night’s show, A Silver Mt. Zion chose songs like “Horses in the Sky (are too heavy to fly)” which added an extra sense of delicateness. The set didn’t reach this point Friday night until the choral parts of “One Million Died to Make This Sound.” Even one of the songs in common “God Bless Our Dead Marines,” touched me more the second time on Saturday as the ensemble asked “Who among us will avenge Miss Nina Simone?” and repeated later on in the song, “When the world is sick can’t no one be well. But I dreamt we were so beautiful and strong.”

Efrim’s mood was also slightly different on Saturday, perhaps because the crowd wasn’t as antogonizing. On Friday, someone decided to yell out “Michael J Fox!” to which Efrim remarked about how in every place they play someone feels the need to yell out the name of some famous Canadian and how (fecitiously) “It never gets tired.” It may have been Ian Ilavsky who remarked that he was pretty sure Fox was also a naturalized American citizen anyhow. There was some conversation that developed about how Canada was better than America to which Efrim replied “It’s not better” and talked about how Canada has the same problems as America and how we’re all in this mess together.

On Saturday, Efrim still seemed somber but it was more of a lost sort of mood vs. a punchy one. He explained how, while driving to their hotel, the suitcase with all of his clothing had fallen out of the back and after a tiring search they had not been able to find it again. He revealed he was now wearing department store clothes and told us he felt like a cereal box.

Although the vibes were a bit strange between songs, I was still really moved during the songs themselves. It felt like more than just mere music. It felt like a revolution.

Hear some of their songs here

Click to see more pictures and setlists for both shows…

SETLISTS:
(Click on songs to be taken to lyrics)

FRIDAY:

God Bless Our Dead Marines
Take These Hands and Throw Them in the River
Blind Blind Blind
American Motor Over Smoldered Field
Ring Them Bells
One Million Died to Make This Sound

Saturday:

God Bless Our Dead Marines
Take These Hands and Throw Them in the River
Mountains Made of Steam
Movie Never Made
Horses in the Sky
Blind Blind Blind

This entry was posted on Thursday, August 10th, 2006 at 9:16 am and is filed under Canada, music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.