The Double Doghouse

this week for the weekly review, i’m checking out Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s release from 2021, G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END. let’s dig in!

this lovely and lively record begins with Military Alphabet (five eyes all blind) [4521.0kHz 6730.0kHz 4109.09kHz]. this track has some stuff going on. the long, slow quiet punctuated softly by noise, the lonely, sombre strings, theres definitely stuff here. the transition into Job’s Lament is mostly in the silence (thats not quite silence)  which makes sense as these first four tracks were considered a single track in the physical release. this was the track where every time i would look up to be like “wait which track is this” it was the end of this track or its transition into the next almost every time. there’s definitely a presence to this track, a weight that is slowly layered and built until its oppressive. First of the Last Glaciers begins picks up at Job’s Lament’s craziest, and spins that sound out a bit. it almost feels like its like, slowly rotating, if that makes sense. i dunno. i feel like this record is forcing me to use strange language to talk about it, haha. closing out the initial movement of tracks is ‘where we break how we shine (Rockets For Mary)’. def a transitional track. Fire at Static Valley originally stood on its own in the track listing – its a very tense track. incredibly impressive to hold that kind of tension across that long of a timespan. the second multi-movement piece begins with “GOVERNMENT CAME” (9980.0kHz 3617.1kHz 4521.0kHz). this track, appropriately, feels like the cinematic version of going to war. like, perparing for immanent disaster. the swell in the middle of the track is so interesting – there’s a sound here that sounds a bit like frantic strings but also kind if sounds like a chorus of voices, its incredibly neat, and very affecting. yeah. very moving track. the second “half” of this composition is Cliffs Gaze / cliffs’ gaze at empty waters’ rise / ASHES TO SEA or NEARER TO THEE. this track becomes…. incredibly hopeful. a stark contrast to the slow plod towards doom, this track is an increasing spiral upwards. very cool. closing things out is a track with a very hopeful name to match the crescendo of the previous track, OUR SIDE HAS TO WIN (for D.H.). an incredibly sombre, reflective track, but not really in a sad way, just in a quieter way. a nice outro to the record.

faves – Job’s Lament
dislikes –

after reading a bit about this album’s release and accompanying media, i feel like i understand quite a bit more about the feelings the album evokes. i appreciate a lot of this record when it’s further from it’s field recordings, tbh – a lot of that just doesnt connect with me, but there were really some extremely moving pieces to this record.

G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END – 6/10

the selection for this week’s suggestion pool is Aphex Twin’s Syro, from 2014. i’ll be back next Friday, August 5th for a review, and in the meantime, let me know what album you’d like me to review! (i pool all suggestions in one place, and draw a person, then a pick from that person, so feel free to drop as many as you’d like! if you leave an email or username i’ll contact you when i’ve gotten through all your suggestions.)