The opening words of Godspeed You Black Emperor!'s first full-length, F#A#oo (I can't do the infinity sign on Blogger it seems) hark back to my own adolescence, providing a suitably doom-laden soundtrack to the trials and tribulations of early teenage life. Listening to the record straight through, on a Year 10 history trip to the First World War battlefields (an oddly apt setting for the music), was a pivotal moment of growing up. This is how music should be. Lush, rich, apocalyptic, imbued with a sense of the Canadian highway and the desolation of the open road, GYBE! (before the exclamational shift) paved the way for countless post-rock acts yet created a sound entirely their own, adopted to some extent by the various offshoots from the collective. Well, they're back. GY!BE, as they are now, will be curating ATP at Minehead, 3 - 5 December 2010. Although the cynical side of me lumps this in with the disappointing reunions of other childhood heroes (Pixies, j'accuse), GY!BE are supposed to be sensational live (I never got to see them) and have enough creativity and integrity to ensure that this (don't call it a) comeback is purely for the right reasons.
If I had the time, money or inclination to spend a weekend at Butlins, I would go and see them. Instead I will be revising their back catalogue and deciding whether the world still needs GY!BE.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor: Rockets Fall on Rocket Falls
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