Live Review: Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Xylouris White

A Godspeed show is a religious experience. Ironically, if they're 'about' anything they would be about anti-worship; a rejection of humanity's brutal constructs. The religion aspect becomes apparent during those moments when the noise is so beautiful and all-consuming one enters a fugue state, a moment of complete dissociation with the world as the cacophony lifts you off the ground. There were a few moments like this last night, but petty technical problems got in the way of it being the truly transcendent experience it has been in the past.

Support act Xylouris White is the collaborative effort of Jim White, the drummer from Dirty Three, and Cretan lute player George Xylouris. The lute is traditionally played in support of other instruments, but here George lets it wander and sing on its own. Jim's deconstructed rock rhythms gather and bluster around it, and together they create hypnotic swirls of warm, earthy music. The sound desk couldn't flesh out the sharper textures and pushed everything into the middle register (as it would with Godspeed), but the duo pushed through it. The music felt incredibly natural and was easy to connect with despite melodic and rhythmic complexity (trad music is like that — ask any Irish national that's ever been in a pub lock-in), and was thoroughly uplifting.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor do not approach their material or their craft lightly. You can feel it whenever you engage with them. There's a palpable feeling of import and omen, and something tugs at your soul. As they gathered on stage one after the other under the drone of a throbbing bass, the crowd's noise died down. Old film stock was projected onto the sheets behind them, the word "hope" scratched onto the frames. Hope Drone moved into Gathering Storm, a violent sermon played over images of natural environments and quiet moments in fields or forests. The earth seemed to have found a voice and was screaming at us in a language we could understand.

Asunder, Sweet & Other Distress thundered and roared, ghostly images of running deer playing across the screen. The militant might of Piss Crowns Are Trebled pushed and heaved, and New Song (Buildings) sounded like a triumphant hymn to a dead city while empty, half-built (abandoned?) buildings floated in the background. Of all these moments, it was the furious crescendo of their hollow, bleak masterpiece The Sad Mafioso that really made an impact. It left people holding their breath and closing their eyes. Ultimately, for those unfamiliar with GSY!BE it was a thrilling and cathartic experience, and for fans and devotees they had lost none of their power.