I had the rare privilege to see Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra last night. They played in front of a sparse crowd of their loyal fans for almost two hours. It's not easy listening to the same song for twenty minutes, especially for a band who focus on a minor sound in pretty much all of their songs. They found a way to keep the sound flowing, changing up tempo, key and time signature just enough to hold your full attention for the entire song. If you know what sounds good, you will appreciate what they do.
It's easy to write a pop song. It's mindless to follow structure. However it is not simple to create beautiful and emotional music that goes where it wants to. Each song is a novel of sound. Silver Mt. Zion is a unique post rock band. You give a lot to the listener that others don't. They don't rely on unbearable amounts of distortion, they don't give you cheesy made up words as their lyrics, there's no sweepingly ultra emotional crescendos, and they're by no means ambient. It's a dark, heavy and extremely organic, earthy sound. The only thing plugged into the wall is the one guitar, everything else is a sting instrument.
It was a dark, yet comforting show.
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