(Constellation)

www.cstrecords.com

It's no stretch seeing Efrim Menuck as a Tom Wolfe-like figure in the independent rock era, and it extends beyond the co-founder of Godspeed You! Black Emperor's fondness for exclamation points. Menuck likes reality writ-large, his music favoring the grand statement over the straightforward narrative. One suspects that this line from epic disc-opener "There Is a Light" could serve as a mission statement: "Man, don't you be meek, there ain't no damn glory in the long retreat." The 15-plus minutes of slow-but-inevitable guitar and strings burgeons into wave upon wave of horn-filled crescendos capped with marching beats, choirs of harmonies and Menuck's adenoidal keening. Dedicated to his new-born son, the song is a shout into the dark, an affirmation of meaning in the absence of all proof, and one helluva kick-off.

This is the band's sixth record, and first since shedding three members and with them the "Tra-La-La Band" from their plenty-busy-already moniker. But operating as a quintet here, there's no drop-off in intensity. Layers of aggro guitars color the driving 7/4 beat of "I Built Myself A Metal Bird" in stark hues (reminiscent of The Fire Show's nerve-wracking rock), Menuck's staccato sing-shout meant to capture the exclamation-overloaded verses (sample: "I built! My! Self! A! Metal! Bird!"). It's an exhausting but exhilarating ride - thankfully "I Fed My Metal Bird the Wings of Other Metal Birds" opens with a well-earned respite, tilting avant garde initially as guitar noise and percussion-crashes battle primordially with string squiggles until a beautiful new form - presumably the now-sated metal bird -- emerges and hijacks the tempo into a rocking orchestral rush. The middle three tracks - meant to comprise Side 3 of a 4-sided set - form a triptych of trad-based laments. The creeping march of "Kollapz Tradixional (Thee Olde Dirty Flag)" captures Menuck's dystopian-yet-hopeful view - "there's trumpets in heaven, six feet underground/mighty and muddy, they faintly resound" - and "Collapse Traditional (For Darling)" is an 88-second, pump organ-and-string vignette bridging to the warped electric sea shanty "Kollaps Traditional (Bury 3 Dynamos)."

Side 4 closes with another lengthy meditation on life's tribulations and our perseverance in their face, "'Piphany Rambler." Unfolding gently in chambers of restrained guitar feedback, the song plods forward inexorably on insistent string sections and marching drums, promising but never quite delivering catharsis because, in the end, that's up to us:  "Swing your blues like a hammer," Menuck keens, "swing it with a heart that bursts and shine your light on everything." It may be the only response left, but at least it's an honest one and leavens any hints of pretension.

This is not an easy listen, but it's meant as a challenge. Menuck can be didactic, his voice an acquired taste. Some sections drag, others grate. But in the end, the reward is substantial. Or, if you prefer, substantial!

Standout Tracks: "'Piphany Rambler" "There Is a Light" JOHN SCHACHT