#postRock, #drone, #experimental, #instrumental

The legends of post-rock from Montreal return for another poignant, innovative, and important installment for their thirtieth anniversary.
This eighth album is named for the running death count of the brutal genocidal attack on Gaza, reflecting the unwaveringness of the firm moral foundation motivating the band's experimental and grand instrumental pieces. And grand, they are! To me, the album's hopeful, fragile, and honest beauty feels like peeling back the layers of the natural and constructed to reveal the flaming heart of our world. Through this album, frontman Efrim Menuck (also of Silver Mt Zion and allhandsmake_light) beautifully continues his longstanding advocacy through protest art as a Jewish voice for a free Palestine <3

RIYL Boris, Mt Eerie / the Microphones, MONO, Cult of Luna, Big|Brave, abstract Olivia Tremor Control, dronier Neutral Milk Hotel, Spiritualized
Favs 2, 3, 6, (5 for doom metal fans)
Instrumental, FCC clean


1. (5:32) Opens with 1min short electric droning, switches to understated shaky but hopeful single note at a time electric guitar melody with egg shaker before backing string swells, flute, and cymbals join and build

2. (13:36) Quiet droning with lightning claps behind extremely echoey distorted repeated timid riff, slowly builds with gentle cymbals, riff grows wanders curiously and emotional and quivering violin, chirping bass, and drumset join, at 7min suddenly reduces to just quiet violin melody with bass chirps and occasional glitchy reverbing. Guitar triumphantly and heartbrokenly roars back starting at 9:40 and builds up with drumming and louder fiddling. Ends gradually with just violin

3. (13:17) Starts with environmental noises and subtle atonal violin swells, slowed down but upbeat garage-rock-style riff repeats starting at 2:30, gains cymbals, and gradually crescendos and gains quiet U2-esque backing guitar before sudden stop at 5:45. Returns to slow riff with no percussion. Found audio of Spanish poem about martyrdom forced upon Gazan children, over traditional fiddling. At 8min, new fiddle & guitar melody leads to a spacey Spiritualized-esque louder garage-rock jam to end the song. NOTE: Really quiet for first 30 sec, 20 sec silence at end

4. (3:33) Lo-fi buzzy and popping low-energy 2-violin and stand-up bass trio, kinda classical, somber like a dirge. Ends with lowest note bass drone and grim reaper knocking and fly noises, all fading out. Can transition into next track smoothly, but can also be cut off with no problem.

5. (11:17) Opens with quiet gongs and spacey squirming synth under reversed violin. Crashing repeated sustained guitar notes starting at 1:45. Gains volume at 5min with increased drumming, shaking cowbell, and really really quiet black metal screaming. Time signature switch at 6:30, mesmerizing looping piano riff joins. At 10min, quickly cuts down to a single nearly silent, charmingly amateurish electric guitar, plunking/sliding for rest of song.

6. (6:53) Sudden start with fast-paced but grieving buzzing electric guitar looping chord sequence, drumming joins 1:45, sad klesmer-esque violin joins at 2:30. Silences at 3:40, rebuilds around more hopeful slow violin swelling chords to finish the album gently