Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

The minimalist packaging suggests that it is a poverty-stricken indie rock band trying to be mysterious. The name evokes some kind of Nordic black metal thing. (Key words being "Emperor" and "black"). It was described to me as "epic." So I bought it, not really sure what I was going to be hearing. No one could have described the music in a way that could have me anticipating its greatness. To me, the music of Godspeed You Black Emperor! is surreally powerful and nearly impossible to describe without resorting to trite comments. The band is a nine-piece "post-rock" group, accurately depicted by others as a rock orchestra -- the instrumentation includes violins, cello, guitars, bass, kit drums, percussion, and French horn (\m/). Entirely instrumental, GYBE!'s music is identified by its moody epics of a build-build-build-crescendo pattern. Each song on _Lift Your Skinny..._ is around 20-minutes long, consisting of individual movements that are about seven-minutes long. Movements build like the swell of the ocean, until a crest breaks in climax...then it begins anew. It may sound repetitive, but this is not the case. Within this framework the band deploys dynamic creativity and musical worlds to spend a lifetime exploring. Ambient stretches, crying strings, booming guitar themes, astutely complex percussion, spoken word samples...the works -- all comprise this band's music. GYBE! creates some of the most compelling soundscapes I've heard from anyone. Even if a movement relies on the same melody all the way through, the nonpareil textural richness makes a seven-minute expanse seem to fade away all too quickly. There is so much to hear, but the sonic images are fleeting, as in a dream. Each song tells a story, but only the listener can articulate it. For me, the music explores feelings of love and sadness, deeply melancholic but often with a glimmer of hope to be found. The album is worth every penny for the downright stunning first track on the second disc, "Sleep". It is unquestionably one of the most emotional pieces of music I have heard, and it defines this band's power for me. The beauty of "Sleep" lies in its crush of melancholy which persists for the first 18 minutes, before hope blooms with a spine-tingling, triumphant finale. Every song, not just "Sleep", is an impressive excursion through music and emotion. This is the only band I have heard so in touch with the emotional conveyance of their instruments that the drums are sad. SAD DRUMS! My plans for world domination are on hold -- my new objective is to get all of this band's albums (easy, since they don't have many right now). When that is done, I can get back to building my super-laser.