Songs like “SUN IS A HOLE SUN IS VAPORS” and “BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD,” the latter sounding like a recorded version of the ”Hope Drone” intro Godspeed has used live for several years, feel present as ever, utilizing a healthy amount of droney guitar rock, orchestral strings, punishing drums, and vengeful bass. Despite the grim title, the drawn-out instrumentation in the first half of this six-track record sounds sentimental, if not a bit optimistic, while the second half, beginning with the baneful, string-led “BROKEN SPIRES AT DEAD KAPITAL,” feels like a wrathful dirge. “GREY RUBBLE – GREEN SHOOTS,” the single and last track, could pair nicely with some of the band’s early work on the comeback album, ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend! 

Simply put, this album is a triumph from a massively important band that keeps on getting better, surely ready to inspire not just fans, but the next wave of experimental musicians and create memories that are held onto for dear life. 

In celebration of the new album from Godspeed You! Black Emperor, RANGE thought it would be fun to hear a few favourite memories from some of these fans.

Ryan Alexander Diduck
Publisher, Niche MTL

Photo: Louise Callier

The date is 2 May 2011. A federal election is held that day, in addition to the second in a series of reunion concerts at the Olympia Theatre in Montreal announced by Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The reigning Conservatives, led by Stephen Harper, who was earlier in his tenure as Prime Minister found in contempt of Parliament, have forced this election to try to strengthen their governing mandate. To thinking citizens, it is obvious that any leader who demonstrates contempt for Canadian institutions should not only lose an election, but be barred from running. Thinking citizens are certain that Harper will fall. 

While Godspeed plays a triumphant gig at the heritage building in the Village on St. Catherine’s Street, anxious attendees check their phones for the incoming results of the election. During the concert, it is announced officially that Harper’s Conservatives have won a majority of the nation’s votes and will remain in power until 2015. Even though the music is ascendent, a crushing feeling sweeps through the crowd as the realization hits that the country once again chose this dark path. As the band finishes its victorious set, a mob of nonetheless deflated fans spills out onto the street chanting in unison, “Fuck you, Canada.”

Dominic Berthiaume
Vocals & Bass, Corridor  

Photo: Jonathan Robert

I first heard GY!BE when I was in CEGEP back in 2004-2005, so I was really late to the party. I had a journalism class that was dedicated to reviewing music, cinema, literature and other art forms. I had a “surprise” exam which consisted of reviewing GY!BE’s Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada EP. Being much more of a hardcore/metalcore listener at the time, I was kind of confused about what to say. I had literally never heard of them before and didn’t know much about post-rock as a genre itself. The closest I knew were Sigur Rós, Radiohead, and Murder By Death’s Like The Exorcist, But More Breakdancing. I ended up really enjoying the EP and wrote a positive review for my exam. I then dug a little more into Montreal’s music scene and discovered some other buzzing bands at the time like Arcade Fire and Malajube, but I was still much more into heavy stuff like Madball, Terror, Cold World and Justice, though. 

Philippe Larocque
Label co-founder of Mothland 

Photo: Stacy Lee

My fondest memory of a Godspeed concert was my first time seeing them in 2016. I had a shitty office job doing data entry where my mother worked for decades. After we were done working, she asked what I wanted for my birthday that was coming up the week after. I knew that Godspeed was playing at La Place des Arts with The Holy Body Tattoo that night and I really wanted to go, so I told her that this was what I wanted, half-jokingly. I think she regretted asking me this instantly because she was tired and she was probably sure it wasn’t a mom-friendly activity.

Even though she wasn’t into it at first, I did what I do best as a spoiled brat and I convinced her, so we went straight to La Place Des Arts and got two tickets. It was incredible. The show was built around the dancers, the work of another incredible artist called Jenny Holzer. The band played in the dark, in the back of the room. The words of Jenny Holzer were projected over the crew of dancers, who used white cubes for their choreographies. We both went out of this concert feeling really elevated and much to my surprise, my mother was really moved by it. It was the best birthday gift ever and to this day it is still one of my favourite concerts. I’ve seen the band many times since and their work is still really inspiring to me. 

Just yesterday, I took a walk by the recently closed Théâtre La Tulipe where I saw them perform with Backxwash and all I wanted to listen to was their music to calm me down a bit. Their music still gives me a bit of hope and strength to keep doing what I do and calms my worried mind. 

PS: Thanks mom for the tickets! You are the coolest.

Anthony Piazza
Drummer/Projections, Atsuko Chiba 

Photo: Stephan Boissonneault

The Godspeed You! Black Emperor show on September 23, 2017 at the Mile Ex End Festival was absolutely unforgettable. Despite the rain, the atmosphere was electric. They had these mesmerizing projections behind them—old, grainy films that really complemented the music and created an eerie, immersive vibe. As the band built up those epic crescendos, the visuals seemed to pulse with the sound, pulling you deeper into the experience. You could feel the intensity in the air, and it was like each note took you on an emotional journey. I walked away feeling completely transformed.

David Palumbo
Bass guitar/Backing vocals, Atsuko Chiba

Photo: CS Bindner

I remember hearing Godspeed for the first time in the early 2000s. I had already started getting into post-rock a little bit, but hearing their song “Moya” for the first time really solidified my appreciation for the genre. I had never heard anything that sounded like that. Those dark brooding melodies, the orchestration, and their patience and restraint…it was almost like listening to a film without the visuals. It really inspired me to follow a less conventional music path in terms of playing and writing. 

But as things usually go, they stopped performing for a bunch of years and I missed my chance to see them live … until their reunion shows in 2011. That was probably one of the best shows I had ever seen … especially at the time. I watched what could be considered a modern-day post-rock orchestra, set to film and everything. Atsuko had visuals from day 1 of playing live, and although it wasn’t directly because of GY!BE, they were definitely an inspiration. Also, the fact that they were a band with many members on stage. I still have my golden ticket (it felt like winning a pass to go see Willy Wonka)…somewhere…in the depths of my junk drawer.

Stuart Berman
Author & Producer, CBC

In 1997, I was in my final year of undergrad and I made the jump from writing for my campus newspaper to writing album reviews for Chart magazine (RIP). Every couple of weeks I would go down to the office and pick up a stack of CDs to review for the upcoming issue, and during one visit, my editor asked me, “Do you have a turntable?” — which was not a common accessory for Discman-toting college kids in the late-’90s. When I answered in the affirmative, he said, “Good — no one else here does. Can you review this?” And he handed me this vinyl release wrapped in a delicate, dark-burgundy sleeve with a cryptic title in embossed lettering and a blurry black-and-white photo pasted on the front. And then inside the sleeve, there was this little manilla envelope with these strange blueprints and a penny that had seemingly been flattened on a train track. I wasn’t sure if this was an album, or the evidence file to some unsolved murder mystery.

I had zero idea of what I was getting into it when I dropped the needle on the record, but from that opening line — “The car is on fire and there’s no driver at the wheel” — I was both instantly terrified and completely transfixed. I was already into post-rock bands like Tortoise and Mogwai at that point, but I had never heard something that was both so sonically expansive and emotionally arresting. This was a time when Canadian indie music had very little visibility beyond our borders, and much of it was emulating American acts like Pavement and Fugazi, and yet here was this underground band from Montreal making music on the scale of early Pink Floyd, Morricone, and Spiritualized. F# A# ∞ was a staggering work on its own terms, but it was also a crucial turning point in the evolution of independent Canadian music, by showing us how a DIY band could take on the world entirely on their own terms. 

Ashanti Mutinta
Producer & Rapper, BACKXWASH 

Godspeed has a tendency to create the perfect soundtrack for a radically curious mind. I knew that the moment I heard Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to Heaven.

Read RANGE Magazine’s interview with Backxwash here. (Photo: Méchant Vaporwave)

NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD is out now via Constellation Records