‘We live on an island called Montreal, and we make a lot of noise, because we love each other!’ says the voice of a small child to introduce the new album by Silver Mount Zion. This album boasts a 5 person line up, including Efrim Manuel Menuck of Godspeed fame, and you’d wonder where he gets the time! It’s a six track album, but with three songs spanning over the ten minute mark, the album as a whole nestles just under the 50 minute mark.

The obvious difference between this work and Godspeed are the vocals, with all of the five piece band including vocals on their credits for the album, it’s something of a communal affair. They lyrics get lost in the waves of sound as the build, develop and over power, but this is nothing new for the band. This is their seventh album to date, and they all follow a largely similar sound and style. The arrangements are complex, with guitar, bass, organs, and drums along with the more unusual sounds of plucked piano, mellotron and violin. In truth, it’s the violin sound that really differentiates this from standard rock and roll music, and they screech and whine to some effect (in a good way, honest!).

This is another album that certainly doesn’t break the mould for a band that have been recording since 2000, but it would be hard to argue that it doesn’t achieve what it set out to do. They are long, powerful songs that develop slowly and drag you in, kicking and screaming. There’s a certain wildness to the vocals and strings which is quite breath taking.

Track listing:

“Fuck Off Get Free (For the Island of Montreal)” – 10:22

“Austerity Blues” – 14:17

“Take Away These Early Grave Blues” – 6:47

“Little Ones Run” – 2:29

“What We Loved Was Not Enough” – 11:22

“Rains Thru the Roof at Thee Grande Ballroom (For Capital Steez)” – 3:57

Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra’s “Fuck Off Get Free Pour Light on Everything” is released on January 21st on Constellation Records.

You can hear the album in full here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfPXY6mtq4U