Godspeed You Black Emperor!
Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven
Constellation

Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven (a.k.a. Levez Vos Skinny Fists Comme Antennas To Heaven) is Godspeed You Black Emperor!'s (GYBE) second long-player. Yes, l-o-o-o-ng player, right. A double album holding close to 90 minutes of music. Massive is an understatement. GYBE create epic operas for a new world. Or telling horror tales of disasters to come.

Last year's Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada E.P. was a stunning piece of work. Their first album, F# A# Infinity, was interesting, but the EP showed brilliance. Therefor I was pretty excited when putting on these vinyl discs. The Canadian 9-some create soundscapes beyond most other "rock" bands. As always we're talking almost entirely instrumental music, except some spoken word pieces here and there. They're monumental and minimalistic at the same time, blasting off with strings and horns and guitars, mixed with field recordings and samples. From the quietly opening tunes of the title track they switch back and forth from a calm ocean to cascading waves of musical "water". They make noise, they swirl and spin, they push and pull, they whisper and roar, they stand still and move. Through phases of former and future lives.

Each side of the LP has got its own theme: Side 1 is called Storm, 2 is Static, 3 is Sleep, and 4 is Antennas To Heaven. It's hard to define the various parts on Lift Your Skinny... as "songs", but they do have titles. Odd (and long!) titles like Cancer Towers On Holy Road Hi-Way, Terrible Canyons Of Static, World Police And Friendly Fire, She Dreamt She Was A Bulldozer, She Dreamt She Was Alone In An Empty Field, and Attention...Mon Ami...Fa-Lala-Lala-La-La. Not to mention Edgyswingsetacid or Deathkamp Drone.

Put the lights out, turn up the music, and lay back. You'll be taken places that you've never been. As the inner sleeve liner notes states: "...more awkward pirouettes in the general direction of hope and joy..." Apocalypse Now!

Copyright © 2000 Håvard Oppøyen