| | Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial O Horses In The Sky CD Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial O Discography of CDs
 (3 Customer Reviews)
A splinter group of popular post-rock ensemble Godspeed You Black Emperor, A Silver Mt. Zion (or, as they are referred to here, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band) is comprised of GYBE guitarist/pianist/singer Efrim, bassist Thierry, violinist Sophie, and other guests. But whereas the band's previous albums sometimes sounded like replications of GYBE's layered, largely instrumental formula, HORSES IN THE SKY is a different kettle of fish altogether. Raw, stripped-down, and vocal-centered, Silver Mt. Zion's fourth album is hushed, mesmerizing, and deeply affecting.
The opening track, "God Bless Our Dead Marines," begins with Efrim's tortured, yelped vocals over pizzicato strings, before dropping into a shifting Balkan dance melody and a chain of surreal lyrics about politics, Nina Simone, and drug abuse. On "Mountains Made of Steam," a mournful vocal tag, that sounds like it might have come from some nightmarish version of FIDDLER ON THE ROOF gives way to a surging orchestral passage and a piercing rain of electric guitar notes, while the title track is all hushed acoustics. The combination of unique instrumentation, angular arrangements, and Efrim's elliptical lyrics and chilling singing makes HORSES IN THE SKY a distinctive and recommended listen.
Personnel: Thierry (vocals, hand claps).
Recording information: Garfield's Campgire; Mighty Hotel2Tango.
Uncut (p.110) - 3 stars out of 5 - "Their latest collection of protest songs deals with themes such as war and drug addiction and their feelings for their homeland, delivered as haunting lamentations that owe as much to the Jewish Klezmer and US folk traditions as to Slint."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.108) - 3 stars out of 5 - "[T]heir most primitive, intimate and vocally oriented yet." Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial O Horses In The Sky Songs | 1. | God Bless Our Dead Marines |
| 2. | Mountains Made of Steam |
| 3. | Horses in the Sky |
| 4. | Teddy Roosevelt's Guns |
| 5. | Hang on to Each Other |
| 6. | Ring Them Bells (Freedom Has Come and Gone) |
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Horses In The Sky Music Review Average Rating: (4.7 out of 5 stars)   just keeps getting better!
Excellent album. Silver Mt. Zion is just getting better... even more than GYBE!. Give it a try!
Submitted by salmacis78 (Quebec, Qc, Canada) 
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 Awesome, it is good to hear Efrim's voice
I would've given it 5 stars if Efrim had more versatility in his voice. His voice is so distinctive that it can get old if he uses the same formula for every song. But, upon first listen, very good progressive stuff. These guys are quite original and creative and worth buying.
Submitted by Lola Upchertch (Hell, KY)
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Like a black Monolith in a desert
This album increases his power every time you listen to it. The first time sound strange to hear all that voices, the second time you get intrigued, the third time you can't wait to listen the fourth. delicate string pizzicatos, sudden crescendos and.. that voices. It's the same feeling you get watching the first part of 2001 A Space Odissey for the first time.
Submitted by Onga (Treviso, Italy)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No | Have you heard this album? |  |
Purchase Horses In The Sky CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Godspeed You Black Emperor Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven CDs (2000)
Horses In The Sky
 $18.15  
This two-disc Godspeed You Black Emperor tour de force is considered something of a milestone of the post-rock age. The first disc opens with slowly drifting ambient droning, which gradually begets mournful strings and a distant, pitch-shifted evangelical sermon before an increasingly ominous thudding rock beat, guitars, ...
| | A Silver Mt Zion Born Into Trouble As The Sparks Fly Upward CD (2001)
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| | VH1 Presents The Corrs Live In Dublin CD (2002)
Horses In The Sky
$6.39 
This audio document of The Corrs' Dublin homecoming concert has pretty much everything fans of Irish pop could wish for, including an appearance from Bono in his earthly incarnation, fresh from an audience with President George W. Bush. It's to the band's credit that the charismatic singer fails to steal the show, despite creditable efforts via an anthemized version of Ryan Adams' beautifully downtempo "When the Stars Go Blue," and a great, leering rendition of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra's "Summer ...
| | Godspeed You Black Emperor Yanqui U.X.O. CD (2002)
Horses In The Sky
$12.89
From the bombs dropping on the cover to the slow buildups towards destruction and post-rock beauty in the compositions, this is Godspeed You Black Emperor at its most stripped-down, straightforward, and unsparing. Indie-rock icon Steve Albini produced YANQUI U.X.O., and his trademark extreme dynamics suit this shadowy Canadian collective well, weighing down on the roots of their whisper-to-frenzy style so they can freely branch off into new realms. The opener "09-15-00" departs into twangy, lounge-like territory not out of place for a Sergio Leone-cum-David Lynch nightmare (though it's apparently about Israel). "Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls" raises dark towers from shaky foundations of shivery Phillip Glass-style arpeggios, while the lead-heavy drones in "Motherf***er = Redeemer" sink into pools of near-total abstraction.
Godspeed cultists are generally divided on this album, though few debate its unusually ...
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A Silver Mt. Zion: Efrim .
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Though he probably achieved his greatest mainstream recognition backing up Lou Reed on tour, idiosyncratic songbird Antony is a fully established artiste in his own right. Backed by the Johnsons, as on I AM A BIRD NOW, he crafts delicate ballads that skirt the lines between cabaret, artsong, and pop, with the kind of voice that Stephin Merritt would probably kill for. Antony's unique pipes bring to mind an androgynous Bryan Ferry or a high, quavery summit meeting between Jimmy Scott (another Reed supporter) and Aaron Neville. The stately, graceful, ...
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One-woman cottage industry DiFranco remains true to her cause on her eleventh album (she's a seasoned vet at 28!). Still steadfastly independent, LITTLE PLASTIC CASTLES, like all her previous releases, is available only through her own Righteous Babe label, as DiFranco wards off the majors who offer to make her what she already is; The Next Big Thing. Fans of the female acoustic songwriter gestalt who are too smart for Alanis and too cool for Patty Larkin will find reason to rejoice in ...
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| | Contemporary Christian Music CD (2008)
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Contemporary Christian Music
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