Godspeed You! Black Emperor
Yanqui U.X.O.

It was a difficult listen. Just like all the works of these nine Canadians, after all.

Only three songs, for a total of over seventy minutes of fascinating and visionary music. Or unbearably melancholic and poignant, depending on the state of mind with which one approaches the listening.
For this reason, GYBE! can either be liked or not liked at all, but they will hardly place themselves in an intermediate position where one listens and says: I like this part, less so that one. Because you can't isolate a 'here' even within the individual tracks.
The entire album is indeed a unique ride on instrumental suites between psychedelic references, symphonic music, and imperceptible silences.

Yanqui (Yankee) U.X.O. (unexploded ordnance - landmines, their political stance is very clear) is a continuous crescendo of sound vibrations, dissonances, and harmonies. Slow and decaying melodies give way to explosive climaxes and fall back into a silence that becomes a musical instrument in its own right.
The track '09-15-00' (the day Sharon ascended the mosque esplanade and from which the second intifada was born) begins slow and anxious before exploding in all its destructive force.
In the 20 minutes of 'Rockets fall on rocket falls', one immerses oneself with a melancholic guitar riff in a sea of sounds before descending into a hypnosis made of percussion and whispered strings.
And in the final half-hour of 'Motherfucker=Redeemer', one plunges from an uneasy rhythm into a cushioned cradle in the first part, only to awaken in a noise finale that dissolves all thoughts in the second part.

Listening to GYBE! is like boarding the Trans-Siberian in Moscow and pressing against the window along the 7000 km that lead to Vladivostok, bidding farewell to the day that becomes night and then day again.
Calm, storm, and calm again (live, it seems they are irresistible: three guitars, two basses, two drums, violin, cello, and visual projections!).