A Silver Mt. Zion

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A Silver Mt. Zion
The current line up (from left to right): Jessica Moss, Ian Ilavsky (rear), Thierry Amar, Sophie Trudeau, Scott Levine Gilmore, Efrim Menuck, and Becky Foon.
Background information
Origin	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genre(s)	Post-rock
Years active	1999 – present
Label(s)	Constellation
Associated acts	Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Website	www.tra-la-la-band.com
Members
Efrim Menuck Thierry Amar Becky Foon Sophie Trudeau Ian Ilavsky Scott Levine Gilmore Jessica Moss

A Silver Mt. Zion is a Canadian post-rock band formed in 1999 by Godspeed You! Black Emperor musicians Efrim Menuck, Sophie Trudeau and Thierry Amar. According to an interview with VPRO Radio in the Netherlands, originally the project was for Efrim to learn how to score music, but the idea was soon abandoned as Efrim decided that he preferred music not to be defined by rules, preferring simply what sounds best.^[1] Despite this, he continued the project out of a desire to experiment with ideas that would not work within the context of Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The decision to record an album was partly inspired by the death of his dog Wanda, who had died while Godspeed You! Black Emperor was on tour.^[1] He wanted to record an album in her memory, but did not feel that he could effectively do this through Godspeed's collective, consensus format.^[1]

[edit] Overview

Unlike Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Silver Mt. Zion's music often features vocals. The last album they released contained no purely instrumental tracks. Efrim confessed that he was uncomfortable with this at first, feeling "foolish" and uncomfortable with the role of the singer in music generally.^[1] That is, he did not want to be the focus of the band's music but rather wished to use vocals as a stylistic tool. Some fans were initially ambivalent about the use of vocals, but Efrim's poetic lyrical style is now well respected among fans.^{[citation needed]} Furthermore, A Silver Mt. Zion's fan base has expanded, and they are no longer seen merely as an offshoot of Godspeed You! Black Emperor but as a unique and separate entity.

There are strong political motifs in the band's music. The instrumental "13 Angels Standing Guard 'round the Side of Your Bed" is apparently directed toward black bloc anarchists, according to liner notes. The song "Triumph of Our Tired Eyes" could be interpreted as lamenting the present state of the world while espousing strong hope for the future. It also references the old anarchist song, "To the Barricades," sung by anarchists during the Spanish Revolution. The band's most recent album, Horses in the Sky, contains ostensibly political tracks, including "God Bless Our Dead Marines" and "Ring Them Bells (Freedom Has Come and Gone)." However, it is worth noting that when asked about the political elements of A Silver Mt. Zion's songs after a concert in Nottingham, England in December 2004, Efrim Menuck said that the band are not trying to be 'political' per se with their songs, but write songs about the sorts of things they talk about with their friends.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Origin of their band name

The name A Silver Mt. Zion would seem to refer to Temple Mount, the highest point in Jerusalem. However, Efrim later noted in an interview with David Garland, host of Spinning on Air from WNYC radio, that the name hailed from a misheard song lyric.^[2] Efrim himself is Jewish, and motifs relating to Judaism are occasionally present in the band's music (he described the band's recording of their first album as a "Jewish experience.")^[1] He is a diasporist, promoting a non-territorial form of Jewish identity that is conducive to pluralism and intercultural interaction.^{[citation needed]}

After the release of their debut album, He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms..., the group expanded to six members and was renamed The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band and released their sophomore album, Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward.. For their third effort, which made use of an amateur choir, their name was changed to The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band with Choir. For the release of their first EP, Pretty Little Lightning Paw, the band's name changed once again to Thee Silver Mountain Reveries. For their 2005 release, Horses in the Sky, the band changed their name to Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, a return to the name used for their second album, save that the pronoun 'thee' was retained in favour of the article 'the'. For simplicity's sake, they are often called by the original name of A Silver Mt. Zion.

[edit] Tours

A Silver Mt. Zion made its live debut at Musique Fragile on March 6, 1999. Their first extensive tour took place in early 2001 throughout Europe.

After a break due to Godspeed You! Black Emperor activities, the band set out on its second tour in 2004. Starting with a brief Canadian tour at end of January, they then headed out for another long string of European dates from mid-February through the end of March. They headed across the Atlantic again in December for a tour of the UK, following their performance at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival.

They had their first performance in the United States (in Brooklyn, New York) on August 13, 2005 as the culmination of a short tour of eastern Canada. Plans for a longer tour were cut short after Sophie Trudeau, one of two violinists for the band, broke her collarbone.

In 2006 the band headed to Europe at the end of April and they played shows up until the start of June. A tour of Canada and the U.S. (A Silver Mt. Zion's first) began in late July and continued until the end of August. The tour debuted two new tracks, "Blind, Blind, Blind" and "One Million Died to Make This Sound".

[edit] Discography

[edit] A Silver Mt. Zion

• He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms..., (Album, 2000)

[edit] The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band

• Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward, (Album, 2001)

[edit] The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band with Choir

• "This Is Our Punk-Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather+Sing, (Album, 2003)

[edit] Thee Silver Mountain Reveries

• Pretty Little Lightning Paw, (EP, 2004)

[edit] Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band

• Horses in the Sky, (Album, 2005)

[edit] See also

• List of bands from Canada
• List of Quebec musicians
• Music of Quebec

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Constellation Records' band page
• Live performances available in the public domain for download on the Internet Archive
• Mountains Made of Steam, a fan site
• Concert photos by Laurent Orseau