Review Summary: The musical score to the best movie never made.
The term 'post-rock' is probably one of the most deceiving genre categorisations in modern music. While 'post-metal' definitely does feature loud guitars and aggressive passages, and 'post-punk' definitely did aim to be a counterpoint to the abrasive simplicity of its preceding genre, 'post-rock' more often than not has little or nothing to do with the rock genre. Many of the bands ascribed to this genre – whether willingly or through pigeonholing by music critics or labels – are closer to the experimental or avantgarde genre than anything commonly understood as 'rock', often favouring atmosphere over abrasiveness, and choosing to understate rather than overstate their point. And while this approach often loses them a fair chunk of the rock crowd, it also lets them create some of the most innovative and interesting music around.
Case in point: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and their masterpiece,
F#A# Infinity. As the Canadian collective's debut album, this three-track opus instantly helped put them on the radar of audiophiles with a penchant for vaguely weird, incredibly atmospheric avant-garde music – an effect it continues to have on neophytes a full twenty-three years after its release.
The reason for this is not at all hard to understand – in a music world where sterile verse-chorus-verse structures, repetitive or stolen beats and inane lyrics are the order of the day, this album has all the impact of a ten-tonne hammer crashing down smack in the middle of a busy metropolis. All the tropes listeners have come to expect from a modern commercial album are gleefully eschewed – there are no traditional song structures, catchy choruses or even any song titles to be found anywhere on this record. Instead,
F#A# Infinity consists of three movements, each 15 to 30 minutes in length and encompassing a series of sub-sections – a configuration that will probably leave most mainstream and even indie rock fans scratching their heads.
Therein, however, lies the mistake.
F#A# Infinity should not be thought of in terms of a rock album. Godspeed You! Black Emperor are not interested in creating sticky choruses or memorable riffs; rather, they aim to create a musical landscape across which to lead the listener. The album is, therefore, best seen as an evolution of the classical symphonies of yesteryear (the structure of which it resembles) or, alternatively, a soundtrack album – the only particularity being that, in this case, the corresponding movie has yet to be filmed.
Indeed, the overall feeling gleaned from the sixty-three minute experience that is a full playthrough of (the CD version of)
F#A# Infinity is that of listening to the incidental score to the best movie never made. As atmospheric passages rumble through the speakers, now and again interspersed with a livelier rhythm, a sampled soundbyte or a vocalized section, listeners might find themselves thinking of a modern, moody, introspective indie western, filled with sweeping shots of desert landscapes and snowy wastelands, across which a gunslinger painstakingly makes his way astride his trusty horse.,,
Also not unlike what happens with most film-score albums, large chunks of
F#A# Infinity are uneventful to the point of being sleepy – which should not be misconstrued to mean they are dull. Blend into the background though they might (and they do), they are very clearly meant to lull the listener into a sense of familiar security, only to then hit them with the next in a long series of musical curveballs, the better to awaken them from their stupor and make them pay attention. These range from the gentle, music-box like melody which closes out the first movement,
The Dead Flag Blues, to the sudden uptempo surge midway through the second (the closest this album comes to the traditional concept of rock music) to the high-pitched, alarm-like noises that erupt further on, almost demanding the listener's full focus on what is going on. Ultimately, this series of surprises and unexpected tangents helps keep interest on a high all the way through, making the album an incredibly rewarding experience even for the uninitiated.
In the end, then, it is not hard to see why Godspeed You! Black Emperor's debut had the impact it did on the alternative music scene of the time. Even now, over two decades after its inception, it makes for an incredibly innovative, fascinating musical experience, one which demands and deserves repeat listens. Shame, then, that the band never quite managed to top it – at least in their original run. Still, this album does still remain out there, waiting to be found by a whole new generation of listeners tired of the stale predictability of mainstream music and wanting something different to get hooked on...
Recommended Tracks
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