Plays "High Gospel"

Last updated
Plays "High Gospel"
Efrimgospel.jpg
CD release cover
Studio album by
ReleasedMay 24, 2011
Recorded Hotel2Tango, Various
Genre Experimental rock, post-rock, alternative rock
Length42:08
Label Constellation
Producer Efrim Manuel Menuck
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
The Big TakeoverExtremely positive link
The Quietus Extremely positive link
Pitchfork 7.6/10 [1]
Drowned in Sound6/10 [2]
The SkinnyStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svg [3]

Plays "High Gospel" (2011) is the debut album from Canadian musician Efrim Menuck, best known for his work as a founding member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion. The album alternates instrumental and vocal tracks, an aspect of his work which began with the Silver Mt. Zion album Horses in the Sky. It was self produced and recorded at the Hotel2Tango and various other locations in Canada in 2010.

Contents

Overview

The Constellation record page describes the release as a "personal album that serves as an ode to his adopted Montreal hometown (where he has now lived for two decades), the passing of great friends (Vic Chesnutt, Emma) and new fatherhood." The album art is a painting of Efrim with his son Ezra, whom he fathered with Mt. Zion bandmate Jessica Moss, and who is sung about in the album's final track.

Track listing

  1. "Our Lady of Parc Extension and Her Munificent Sorrows" – 7:00
  2. "A 12-pt. Program for Keep on Keepin' On" – 9:00
  3. "August Four, Year-of-Our-Lord Blues" – 3:01
  4. "Heavy Calls & Hospitals Blues" – 2:33
  5. "Heaven's Engine Is a Dusty Ol' Bellows" – 2:08
  6. "Kaddish for Chesnutt" – 7:18
  7. "Chickadees' Roar Pt. 2" – 4:44
  8. "I Am No Longer a Motherless Child" – 6:24

All music and lyrics by Efrim Manuel Menuck

Personnel

Related Research Articles

Constellation Records is a Canadian independent record label based in Montreal, Quebec. It has released albums by many post-rock bands, including Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band and Do Make Say Think.

<i>All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling</i> Album by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

All Lights Fucked on the Hairy Amp Drooling is a cassette released in 1994 by Canadian musician Efrim Menuck, using the name God Speed You Black Emperor! Given a limited release of 33 copies in December 1994, the album quickly fell into obscurity before being subsequently re-released by Menuck on Bandcamp in 2022.

<i>Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward</i> 2001 album

Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward is the second album by the Canadian band The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. It was released by Constellation Records in October 2001.

<i>The "Pretty Little Lightning Paw" E.P.</i> 2004 EP by Thee Silver Mountain Reveries

The "Pretty Little Lightning Paw" E.P. is an EP by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band under the name Thee Silver Mountain Reveries. It was released May 2004 on Constellation Records. The name the band assumed for this EP was temporary; they have since reverted to using Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra.

<i>Horses in the Sky</i> 2005 album

Horses in the Sky is the fourth album by the Canadian post-rock band Silver Mt. Zion, this time under the alias Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. This is the first Silver Mt. Zion release to feature lyrics on every track.

<i>He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms...</i> 2000 album

He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms… is the debut album of Canadian post-rock group A Silver Mt. Zion, who now record under the name Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. The album was recorded by guitarist Efrim Menuck and bassist Thierry Amar at the Hotel2Tango in 1999, mostly during breaks while touring with Godspeed You! Black Emperor. It was published by the Montreal-based record label Constellation on March 27, 2000.

<i>"This Is Our Punk-Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing,</i> 2003 album

"This Is Our Punk-Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing, is the third studio album by Canadian post-rock band The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-la-la Band. It was released August 25, 2003, in Europe and September 2, 2003, in the rest of the world by Constellation Records.

Efrim Menuck Canadian musician

Efrim Manuel Menuck is a Canadian musician involved with a number of Montreal-based bands, most notably Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. Menuck is also a frequent record producer and engineer, working with musicians from Montreal and abroad.

This article contains a discography of Constellation Records.

Hotel2Tango

The Hotel2Tango is a 24-track analogue recording studio situated in the Mile End district of Montreal, Quebec. The current facility is the second to bear the name, and was preceded by a similar operation in the same neighborhood until 2007 when the studio changed locations. The majority of recording projects undertaken at the studio are helmed by one of the facility's four partner-engineers: Efrim Menuck and Thierry Amar, both members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band and Godspeed You! Black Emperor; Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, member of Jerusalem In My Heart; and Howard Bilerman. The Hotel2Tango is often closely associated with Constellation Records, a Montreal-based record label.

Sophie Trudeau (musician) Canadian singer and violinist

Sophie Trudeau is a Canadian musician. She is best known as a member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and co-founder of Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. She also plays in a number of other bands, including Valley of the Giants and The Mile End Ladies String Auxiliary.

Thierry Amar is a Canadian musician, engineer and producer. He is a member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, Earthquake Architecture, The Craig Pedersen Quartet and Black Ox Orkestar.

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra Canadian band

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra was a Canadian post-rock band that formed in 1999, originating from Montreal, Quebec. Variations of the name used on the band's releases include A Silver Mt. Zion, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band with Choir and Thee Silver Mountain Reveries; the group uses the shorthand SMZ and its name is most often simplified to Silver Mt. Zion. The group has undergone almost yearly personnel changes, evolving by stages from a mostly instrumental trio at the time of its first recordings into an eight-piece group, and then in 2008 into a strongly vocal quintet.

Jessica Moss Musician

Jessica Moss is a Canadian musician best known for playing violin and singing backing vocals in the post-rock band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band since 2001, and is a founding member of Black Ox Orkestar.

<i>13 Blues for Thirteen Moons</i> 2008 album

13 Blues for Thirteen Moons is the fifth full-length album by the Canadian post-rock group, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. The album was released in March 2008. The album consists of an instrumental feedback intro, split into twelve extremely short tracks, and four full songs, which had been played live on recent tours.

<i>Kollaps Tradixionales</i> 2010 album

Kollaps Tradixionales is the sixth full-length album by the experimental rock group Thee Silver Mt. Zion under the name Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. It was released in February 2010 on Constellation Records. The songs "I Built Myself a Metal Bird", "I Fed My Metal Bird the Wings of Other Metal Birds" and "There Is a Light" were played on earlier tours.

<i>At the Cut</i> 2009 studio album by Vic Chesnutt

At the Cut is a 2009 album by Vic Chesnutt. It was his penultimate album release before his death on December 25, 2009, from an overdose of muscle relaxants. The song "Flirted with You All My Life" alludes to Chesnutt's own attitude toward suicide, including his previous attempts to take his own life. Along with North Star Deserter, this album features various members from the Canadian post-rock band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, as well as Fugazi's vocalist and guitarist Guy Picciotto.

<i>Hot Wax</i> (album) 2009 studio album by Grant Hart

Hot Wax is the third solo album from Grant Hart, formerly of the band Hüsker Dü. It was released on October 6, 2009. The album followed Good News for Modern Man, released in 1999.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor discography

The discography of Godspeed You! Black Emperor—a Canadian post-rock musical collective from Quebec—consists of seven studio albums, one extended play, one split single, and two contributions to various artists compilation albums.

<i>Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything</i> 2014 album

Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything is the seventh full-length album by the Canadian experimental rock group Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. The album was released on January 20, 2014 on Constellation Records.

References