Album: 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons [Slipcase]

Song Title

Time

1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound

More Info...

Album: 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons [Slipcase]

Song Title

Time

1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound

More Info...

Performer Notes

A Silver Mt. Zion: Ian Ilavsky, Efrim Manuel Menuck (vocals, electric guitar); Jessica Moss, Sophie Trudeau (vocals, violin); Beckie Foon (vocals, cello); Thierry Amar (vocals, bass instrument, electric bass); Eric Craven (vocals, drums).
Personnel: Brian Lipson (trumpet); Nadia Moss (organ).
Consisting of 12 extremely short, noisy tracks followed by four extended pieces each clocking in at around 15 minutes, 13 BLUES FOR THIRTEEN MOONS is the 2008 offering by the Silver Mt. Zion ensemble, here credited as Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. As on all of the band's projects, 13 BLUES reflects the challenging post-rock aesthetic of Efrim Menuck, also of Godspeed You Black Emperor, leading listeners through passages of startling symphonic rock (the title track) and bleak melancholia ("Black Water Blowed/Engine Broke Blues").

Professional Reviews

Uncut (p.103) - 4 stars out of 5 -- "[A]ll rickety brass, lurching rhythms, sepia-tinted, wide open arrangements and a scree of guitars, over which leader Efrim delivers his ragged-trousered vocal holler..."

The Wire - "[A]ll seven members take up the microphone for repetitive chants and interplay of staggered vocals, which in conjunction with Menuk's emotive lead wail are ominous and powerful."

CMJ - "Each track crackles and fizzles like old vinyl spinning....Each dirge is artfully punctuated with end-of-days string arrangements."

Mojo (Publisher) (p.112) - 3 stars out of 5 -- "[F]our epic, soul-stirring protest numbers which marry guitar scree, tumultuous rhythms and elegant orchestration."

Harp (magazine) (p.118) - "Rage and disillusionment take shape in crashing, cataclysmic percussion and keening ecstasies of string..."