Review Summary: Settle down
Godspeed You! Black Emperor is great walking music. In fact, I’ve disciplined myself to only ever listen to them when I go for walks because I’d always been scared that listening to them in other situations would somehow corrupt the atmosphere they’d always portrayed. And that atmosphere really helps me think, and I can really only seem to get into that mood when I’m going on my usual late-night walks. I think the first time I heard the 78-piece ensemble was on F#A#, and I distinctly remember walking down to the port of my city that cut right into the Mississippi. I remember how small I felt during the tremendous climaxes, and I remember how they almost left me with a quaint sense of inspiration. It was very emotional stuff. I guess what I’m saying is that Godspeed is really cool music for walking to, and perhaps more importantly, thinking to. In addition, it’s worth mentioning that many say He Has Left Us is basically a lost Godspeed record.
But Mt. Zion isn’t Godspeed.
No, in fact He Has Left Us lacks the dramatics, the theatrics, and the massive shroud that Godspeed is very well known for, and what ultimately makes them great. It’s much more personal music. But that makes it even better thinking music because it cuts a ton of the excess Godspeed is guilty of packing into their mixes. Instead of long, progressive jams by a multitude of instruments creating heavy, somber moods, you’re treated with laid-back instrumental dances that often seem more relaxed than anything else. There are several instances where a lone upright bass pushes a backing rhythm while a quiet cello shifts around a booming piano. Occasional samples are necessarily and abruptly forced into the mix, giving the music a timbre that undoubtedly saves the minimalist structures from going nowhere. He Has Left Us is ultimately an album that shows a more restricted Godspeed. And, despite the brief gasps for something interesting to happen, He Has Left Us is in many ways a better record to ponder with.
