GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR / MARISA ANDERSON – ROADRUNNER
By Rick Fleck
Godspeed You! Black Emperor play Roadrunner Boston with Marisa Anderson for direct support.
The Godspeed You! Black Emperor Liberation Spring 2025 concert at Roadrunner Boston began with “Hope Drone.” It’s not a studio recording. It can change from show to show. First there was a soft, ambient drone and then the violin and double bass joined in. Although musically quite different, it’s similar to how the Grateful Dead began concerts, coming onstage, tuning their instruments, and then seamlessly melding into a song.
“Hope Drone” is eerie, discordant, and atonal. The other band members entered the stage one by one and gradually joined in. The music became more chaotic and increased in volume as the word “Hope” flashed repeatedly on the large screen behind the band. After a brief lull, a guitar ushered in the song “SUN IS A HOLE SUN IS VAPORS” from GY!BE’s most recent release, 2024’s NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD. With a measured Middle Eastern melody, the song built majestically as it unfolded.
GY!BE is an instrumental, post-rock/drone, eight-piece band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada. They are known for their political activism and anti-capitalist stance, although they said nothing during the show. GY!BE is founding members Efrim Menuck (guitar, tape loops, keyboards) and Mauro Pezzente (bass guitar).The rest of the band are Mike Moya (guitar), Thierry Amar (double bass, bass guitar), David Bryant (guitar, tape loops), Sophie Trudeau (violin), and Aidan Girt and Timothy Herzog (drums, percussion). Karl Lemieux and Philippe Léonard, the film projectionists, complete the line-up.
Photos Rick Fleck
“BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD” also began slowly. The guitar sounded like it was lifted from an Ennio Morricone spaghetti western soundtrack. Trudeau was then given room to roam, playing her violin with deep emotion. Again, the other players gradually joined in and the tempo and volume rose. “BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD” is a song with many parts, but taken in its entirety, it is a cohesive piece with a distinctive beginning, middle and end. The music built to an exhilarating crescendo, ending with just the strings.
The band played the entire show in minimal, subdued lighting. GY!BE members didn’t move around much either, staying in their designated spots. The visual focus was on the movie screen; the photos and videos were carefully paired with each song, not to tell a linear story, but to create a provocative visual correlation.
“RAINDROPS CAST IN LEAD” began with Trudeau’s violin accompanied by sounds reminiscent of a rusty old merry-go-round from a playground. The accompanying video guided the audience through a vacant building overlooking a necropolis of abandoned structures. The other side of the screen showed rapidly repeating images of Wall Street stock tickers, the speed of the images increasing with the swirling tempo of the music. For a band known for making political statements, it was natural to interpret the images as conveying a message about financial greed and its ensuing ruin.
“Monheim” is a movement from the longer song “Sleep” from the 2000 album Lift Your Skinny Fists like Antennas to Heaven, widely considered GY!BE’s most popular and groundbreaking album. It’s a prog-rock masterpiece calling to mind early Genesis with a modern, post-rock flavor. “Monheim” is repetitive, hypnotic, and inspires contemplation. The accompanying video of trains, tracks, and tunnels, paired beautifully with the music.
“PALE SPECTATOR TAKES PHOTOGRAPHS / GREY RUBBLE – GREEN SHOOTS” began with a low thrum not unlike a Celtic carnyx. One of the guitarists came in with heavy power chords. Imagine the latter half of Pink Floyd’s “Dogs” and you’ll be on the right track. “PALE SPECTATOR TAKES PHOTOGRAPHS” possessed the spirit of the early years of British progressive rock. The melody and imagery – buildings and forests on fire – conjured a sense of Sisyphian struggle. The epilogue was lighter and more uplifting: a sparse guitar-led ending that tied together the various pieces of the whole. “GREY RUBBLE – GREEN SHOOTS” served as an orchestral coronation, classical-inspired, culminating in a beautiful, transcendent coda.
“Piss Crowns Are Trebled,” from 2015’s Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress, delivered walls of distortion and feedback. It was a menacing, unsettling piece. Herzog’s martial drumming provided a strong backbone, set against footage of state-sponsored violence against nameless protestors. The most drone metal track of the night, it conjured an atmosphere of turmoil; a swirling tempest of sound that came to an abrupt, unresolved end.
The final song of the night was “The Sad Mafioso,” one of three parts of the studio composition “East Hastings” from GY!BE’s debut studio album F♯ A♯ ∞. An edited version of “The Sad Mafioso” was used in Danny Boyle’s film 28 Days Later and its sequel 28 Years Later, due to its unsettling dystopian tone. The song thundered and swelled, gradually evolving into what is often called the “Outro Drone.” Every band member set their instrument down and left the stage. The instruments “played” on with looping and feedback until each was silenced in turn. The lights never came up, each member gave a small wave to the audience, and exited the stage.
GY!BE’s music is an immersive experience. Vocals and lyrics are unnecessary. You soon stop caring how hard it is to see the performers, drawn instead to the slides and short films. It’s the kind of experience where you can let go of the present and get lost in your own mind. The music leads you in unexpected directions. It’s an experience where you leave the show feeling somehow repaired, if only for a brief time.
Opener Marisa Anderson is a Portland, Maine–based guitarist and composer. She also played an entirely instrumental set although she spoke warmly to the crowd, often explaining a song’s origins, connections, and/or meaning. She played a captivating and widely varied seven song set.
Photos Rick Fleck
The first song, ‘Little Sister,’ is an original piece that Anderson dedicated to her sister. “The Crack Where the Light Gets In” is another original song that is uplifting with flamenco-like guitar flourishes. At times it’s hard to believe there aren’t two people playing guitar. “Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” is a traditional gospel blues song attributed to Blind Willie Johnson, who recorded it in 1928. Anderson played with genuine respect and authenticity. The song is deeply moving, with expressive playing up and down the neck of the guitar and beautiful, descending scale-like phrases. The audience loved it.
“Keep Your Lamps Trimmed and Burning” was followed by two songs that are arrangements of untitled field recordings. The first is from a recording made in Syria in 1955. The second was a Sufi devotional song from Pakistan. The two songs highlighted her incredible versatility as a guitarist. Her playing was technically brilliant and yet the music was still very accessible. “Beat the Drum Slowly” is another traditional song with an original arrangement by Anderson. The song is about mourning, funerary rites, and respect for the departed. “The King of the Hummingbirds” is inspired by a hummingbird Anderson sees almost daily in her yard. The piece is bright, cheerful, and hopeful.
There’s a gritty rawness and economy of style to her playing that’s also highly technical and accomplished. It’s amazing the sounds Anderson gets from her instrument and her masterful ability to command the attention of a large audience. The art of making a 3,500 capacity concert space feel like an intimate club is a rare talent. Anderson is an archivist, conservationist, artist, and storyteller.
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