FLY PAN AM

Of course, the members of Godspeed never made any seriously audacious moves since their initial audacious move of starting the band in the first place. All of their albums were significantly different without comprimising their identity. It was the band's offshoots that really pushed the limits.

A Silver Mt. Zion started off with a similar sound to Godspeed, they quickly evolved into a highly innovated group that constantly tries new things out without getting too indulgent. It seems that there was a finite supply of indulgence, and Fly Pan Am wanted all of it.

This is a bold project. It's bold because they wrote a two-note line and repeated it for 18 minutes! I'm fine with minimalism, but this is approaching the limit of minimalism. And as that limit is approached, the result is either boring or intolerable. This is both. I like the material, but it is way too repetitive, and even with some sound in the background, not enough is changing. So it starts out with enjoyment but then it hits either boredom or annoyance and then it just oscillates between the two.

The ideas are solid, but they are self-sustaining for as long as they are being used. However, you will notice an avant-garde mindset about this record, and eventually they will almost succeed in mixing avant-garde stylings with post-rock.

The most immediately apparent difference here is the instrumentation, which is similar to Explosions in the Sky – guitar, bass, drums, and a bit of edited-tape trickery. No strings, which seems like almost a prerequisite for this type of music. The guitars remind me quite a bit of Explosions at times, although the arrangements are more monotonous, and Pan Am spend quite a bit of time just playing unvaried (or only slightly varied) passages during their interminably long compositions. The shortest work here is almost ten minutes, and the completely insufferable “Dans ses Cheveux Soixante Circuits” drags on for almost eighteen minutes, almost all of which consists solely of a two-note sequence repeated over and over and over and over…. You get the idea. I think this may have been done via tape mixes, not sure, but I totally failed to get the point and had to check my player several times during the first few listens just to make sure it was operating correctly.

The opening track “L'espace Au Sol Est Redessiné Par D'immenses Panneaux Bleus” is a bit more interesting, and shows a fair amount of Godspeed influence in the simple few bars that slowly build and morph slightly into what sounds exactly like so many of Menuck’s early compositions. The track runs a bit long at thirteen minutes, with not much point to the last several minutes, but this is pretty decent moody experimental rock, which is of course what it’s supposed to be.

“Et Aussi L'éclairage De Plastique Au Centre De Tout Ces Compartiments Latéraux” has some interesting and oddly-formed guitar notes that I’m not quite sure how they were formed, but the taped special effects lose their impact after several minutes of seemingly pointless repetition.

The first half of “Bibi à Nice, 1921” is almost indiscernible unless you crank your speakers all the way up. I’m not sure if this was intentional but if it was, the effect falls pretty flat. The second half has some decent guitar work/feedback, but not that much different than that on the opening track.

The final track “Nice Est En Feu!” has a decent brooding tempo and some slightly creepy female backing voices that alternate between wordless crooning and humming, plus a little piano. But just as this one finally seems to be going somewhere, it abruptly ends.

I probably did expect too much from these guys considering their pedigree and the Constellation label they were released on. But I suspect others would expect as much as me if they pick this up based on their previous experiences with Godspeed and Silver Mt Zion. They will probably be a bit disappointed just like I was.

Good for completionists or for people who like to wear black and mope around coffee shops bemoaning their presence in the human race, but not worth the money for anyone else. Two stars.

peace

As with many artist on this label , these guys are from Quebec , but they vary quite a bit from GYBE!, Do Make Say Think , Silver Mt Zion etc.. Their music still has some moments that I would classify as typically Constellation sound , but they do stray from the path often and generally head off in a direction that I will best describe as unexpectedly experimental playing the studio as an instrument a bit the same way a Techno Dj or lete 80's rap artist might play the turntables. Do not let these two example scare youoff ,we are not at all in such a category of music , but the tape effects (or whatever studio tamperings these guys do) are disturbing meto thepouintof making the listening experience of one of their record (I had heard another a few years ago ( Ithink it was the debut) rather difficult and unpleasant. I am quite afraid that most progheads would never come to appreciate this oeuvre , because those tape effects make repeated listening quite arduous. Of late, DMST's latest album seem to head also in this direction.

I wish I could avoid rating an album I do not understand , but I will simply not recommend it unless you are Constellation record completist