Remember that joke from Pineapple Express that went, “You are gonna go to college next year. You’ll get into Godspeed You! Black Emperor and the f-ing Shins, and you’ll blow a bunch of dudes and become a lesbian” and remember how you chuckled whether you were in some altered state of mind or not because for some reason you got the joke even if you had never heard of either of the bands? It will always be true that some bands (Probably more Godspeed You! Black Emperor than The Shins) will always have reputations for being the black sheep in the herd because they give off the vibe that they can only be fully understood and appreciated by people in a certain atmosphere and state of mind.
Truth be told, Godspeed probably does come off this way to many people. They are a band that has made a career out of writing songs that commonly clock in at around twenty minutes and are completely instrumental (the only rare times that voices are heard comes in the form of samples). They are a truly radio unfriendly band with song structures that in theory would be impossible to attract casual listeners and yet they have a massive following and are critically acclaimed. Could it just be that they have amassed a following of diehards and have been able to woo the critical masses by pushing the envelope of a genre that has come to be known as Post-Rock? Or could it be that the band’s music is much more accessible than the stereotypes surrounding them would lead you to believe?
‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!, the first album the band has released in ten years, finds the band continuing to create dramatic, scenery painting songs. As far as a collective tone for the album goes, the artwork displaying an isolated desert shack serves as a decent basis. The songs are spacey, ambient dirges that are as carefully thought out as they are improvised (honestly, that will make a lot more sense upon hearing it). The band packs their songs with an array of unique elements, incorporating an array of percussion and string instruments combined with samples to create dark and melancholic music that felt so at home on the 28 Days Later soundtrack.
Perhaps in the end the band does require a certain understanding to be fully appreciated. But if approached with an open mind, Godspeed You! Black Emperor will prove to be capable of accomplishing the feat of creating an album that truly does exist as a whole rather than a collection of songs. Can you honestly say that the death of the album is nigh when albums such as ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! are required to be heard in their entirety to provide a fulfilled experience?