Review Summary: It's the most direct of ways
Montreal post-rock giant GY!BE are known for, frankly, writing much of the textbook on post-rock. Doing so, they obviously culminate many of the genre’s characteristics: lack of harmonic vocals, long builds with dashing crescendos, orchestral personality such as call-and-response and twin melodies, and, probably most iconic to the genre, dissonant tremolo notes. SRfNZK is chock full of all these traits and one wouldn’t be very mistaken to say it is the definitive post-rock album. But considering it is only 28 and a half minutes long culminated by two cousin songs, it might not be all the genre has to offer; instead it makes one darn good EP.
One could probably say the cousin songs are peak post-rock songs and be understood fine. That isn’t really to say they aren’t unique, but to say they are about the best of what the genre has to offer. They contain the most suspenseful buildups, the biggest crescendos, and the most dramatic of the drama. Thankfully the occasional pre-recorded quips of our friend, the traditional scared-of-higher-powers guy, gives the album a thicker charisma. You’ll get a moment or two to explore the theme most commonly presented by Godspeed in the most direct of ways: the end of the world. The music naturally provides an interesting soundtrack to allow your mind to wander, all in an organic setting.
