The Daily Spin, February 7
Godspeed You! Black Emperor | Lift Your Skinny Fists
Welcome back to the Daily Spin, the series in which I review 365 albums during 2023.
Each album will be given a rating on a scale from 0 to 10. You can look at the entire set here. Additionally, you can check out a list of my favorite song from each album right here.
If you want to suggest an album, good news! You can do so right here!
Album: Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven (2000)
Artist: Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Link:
The best way that I can describe Lift Your Skinny Fists is deceptive - not in that it misrepresents the music, nor is it a massive deviation from GY!BE’s style - but four tracks, on the surface, should not present the depth that the group manages to shove into each individual composition - despite their astounding length, clocking it at just shy of an hour and a half, three of four songs above the 20 minute mark and a fourth tipping just shy of 19.
The other word I would use is massive. One - in size, each of these songs a masterful composition in their own right - but also in the depth of sound, rounding off variety in genre and sentiment with ease and with a deftness I did not expect, despite the way this entire album is built on slower sound. It’s the way with which each song within each track acts out its entire story.
The opener and closer are the finest efforts, in my opinion - largely in part because of the post-rock like elements that define entire minutes of these tracks. It’s sparse, hollow, deafeningly quiet - and yet, it is beautiful. When the albums break out of that quietness, explosions of noise confront you, but even those are at most fleeting, replaced once again with the creeping near-silence, a note or two glimmering into the distance.
Rating: 9.0/10
Best Tracks: Storm; Like Antennas To Heaven...
Worst Tracks: Sleep