Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra was a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

band that formed in 1999, originating from

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-most populous city in Canada and List of towns in Quebec, most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

. Variations of the name used on the band's releases include A Silver Mt. Zion, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band with Choir and Thee Silver Mountain Reveries; the group uses the shorthand SMZ and its name is most often simplified to Silver Mt. Zion. The group was founded by

Godspeed You! Black Emperor Godspeed You! Black Emperor (sometimes abbreviated to GY!BE or Godspeed) is a Canadian post-rock band which originated in Montreal, Quebec in 1994. The group releases recordings through Constellation, an independent record label also located i ...

leader

Efrim Menuck Efrim Manuel Menuck (; born November 4, 1970) is a Canadian musician involved with a number of Montreal-based bands, most notably Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. Menuck is also a frequent record producer a ...

, who was joined by fellow Godspeed members Sophie Trudeau and

Thierry Amar Thierry Amar is a Canadian musician, engineer and producer. He is a member of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, Earthquake Architecture, The Craig Pedersen Quartet and Black Ox Orkestar. He i ...

. Aside from these core members, Silver Mt. Zion has undergone almost yearly personnel changes, evolving by stages from a mostly instrumental trio at the time of its first recordings into an eight-piece group, and then in 2008 into a strongly vocal quintet. Silver Mt. Zion's music has been described as

, though singer and guitarist

identifies with the punk rock ethos and aesthetic.A Silver Mt Zion: Park Plaza Hotel, London, February 8 2008 (Peter Guy: Getintothis)
The band has released seven studio albums and three EPs, on the record label Constellation.

History

Origins (1999–2000)

Godspeed You Black Emperor! - London Nov 20001

Silver Mt. Zion began as a framework for Efrim Menuck, a guitarist in Montreal-based musical collective

, to develop his knowledge of

music theory Music theory is the study of the practices and possibilities of music. ''The Oxford Companion to Music'' describes three interrelated uses of the term "music theory". The first is the "rudiments", that are needed to understand music notation (ke ...

and music scoring, and to work on musical ideas that didn't fit into the format of his band. Menuck enlisted

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

ist Sophie Trudeau and

bassist A bassist (also known as a bass player or bass guitarist) is a musician who plays a Bass (instrument), bass instrument such as a double bass (upright bass, contrabass, wood bass), bass guitar (electric bass, acoustic bass), synthbass, keyboar ...

, who was also involved with Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The band made its live debut on March 6, 1999, at Musique Fragile, a performance venue organized by the record label Constellation. It released its debut album, '' He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms...'', on March 27, 2000. Godspeed You! Black Emperor rarely features vocals, relying instead on audio samples; similarly themed samples appear on Silver Mt. Zion's debut album. Menuck does sing on two tracks, "Movie (Never Made)" and "Blown-out Joy from Heaven's Mercied Hole".

Expanding membership (2000–2004)

Before the release of its second album, the band recruited three more musicians, expanding the group to a sextet. The new members were

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

Beckie Foon Rebecca Foon (born 13 December 1978) is a Canadian cellist, vocalist, and composer from Montreal, Quebec. Foon currently records under her own name, as well as the alias Saltland, and is a member and co-founder of the Juno Award-winning modern c ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

Ian Ilavsky, and

ist Jessica Moss. The band's name was changed to The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band to reflect the larger membership. In early 2001 the band set out on an extensive tour of

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

. During their 5-hour flight to Europe, the band members wrote “The triumph of our tired eyes”. Soon after their return, the album "Born Into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upwards” was written. While some tracks on ''Born into Trouble ��' reflect the building but repetitive and instrumental nature of the first album, some tracks are more songlike in structure and rely more on vocals. On "Take These Hands and Throw Them in the River", the vocal parts finish with a building wall of noise dynamic, while "Could've Moved Mountains" has double-tracked vocals the listener has to strain to hear. With the same lineup, but with the band's name slightly expanded to reflect the change in sound and membership, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band with Choir released ''"This Is Our Punk-Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing'' in 2003. The album featured four tracks each over ten minutes and had more singing as well as greater emphasis on drums in two of the tracks. Thee Rusted Satellite Choir features 24 names. The album appeared on the !earshot National Top 50 Chart in September 2003. After a break due to

activities, the band set out on a brief Canadian tour at end of January 2004; it then travelled to Europe, where it toured from mid-February to the end of March. That winter Scott Levine Gilmore from ''Black ox orkestar'' joined the band and it began performing in a semi-circle onstage. After performing at the

All Tomorrow's Parties "All Tomorrow's Parties" is a song by the Velvet Underground and Nico, written by Lou Reed and released on the group's 1967 debut studio album, ''The Velvet Underground & Nico''. Inspiration for the song came from Reed's observation of Andy Warh ...

festival, the band headed across the Atlantic again in December for a tour of the UK. The lineup was expanded again to include Gilmore, a mandolinist and guitarist. The choir dropped, and the band added an E to the first word of its name, becoming Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band for the release of its fourth full-length record. ''Horses in the Sky'' (2005) has six tracks, all with vocals. Following a short tour of eastern Canada in August that year, the band performed for the first time in the United States in

Brooklyn Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. Plans for a longer tour were cut short after Trudeau, one of two violinists in the band, broke her collarbone. In that time, Gilmore left the band and was replaced by former

Hangedup Hangedup was an experimental rock duo from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, featuring Genevieve Heistek on Viola and Eric Craven on drums and percussion. They combined viola with strong percussion, sometimes using self-made instruments, to create intense e ...

drummer Eric Craven.

''13 Blues for Thirteen Moons'' (2006–2008)

In 2006, the band headed to Europe at the end of April and played shows until the start of June. A tour of Canada and the United States (Silver Mt. Zion's first) ran from late July to the end of August. The tour debuted two new songs, "BlindBlindBlind" and "1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound". In a follow-up 2007 tour of Europe, the band premiered two new songs, "Engine Broke" and the title song of its

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

, which was released in March 2008 and contains all four tracks. The album also contains 12 short tracks of

drone Drone most commonly refers to: * Drone (bee), a male bee, from an unfertilized egg * Unmanned aerial vehicle * Unmanned surface vehicle, watercraft * Unmanned underwater vehicle or underwater drone Drone, drones or The Drones may also refer to: ...

and feedback which feed into each other to create a fifth piece on the album, acting as a prologue to the album proper, which appropriately begins on track 13. Silver Mt. Zion then toured Europe and North America, premiering two new songs, "I Built Myself a Metal Bird, I Fed My Metal Bird the Wings of Other Metal Birds" and "There's a Light". In the summer of 2008, the band's lineup changed again as Craven, Foon and Ian Ilavsky resigned. After they left, the band lost the words "tra-la-la band" from its name. At that time David Payant joined as drummer and the band officially renamed itself Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. In September that year the new lineup played at the New York ATP Festival.

Vic Chesnutt collaboration and ''Kollaps Tradixionales'' (2009–2010)

The members of Thee Silver Mt. Zion contributed to two works by

Vic Chesnutt James Victor Chesnutt (November 12, 1964 – December 25, 2009) was an American singer-songwriter from Athens, Georgia. His first album, little (album), ''Little'', was released in 1990. His commercial breakthrough came in 1996 with the rele ...

: the 2007 album ''

North Star Deserter ''North Star Deserter'' is a 2007 album by Vic Chesnutt. The backing musicians on the album are Guy Picciotto (guitarist and vocalist for the groups Rites of Spring and Fugazi) and Canadian Post-rock band, A Silver Mt. Zion. It was released on Co ...

'' and the 2009 album '' At the Cut''. Both were released by Constellation Records. In the spring of 2009, the band began working on recording material for its album '' Kollaps Tradixionales'', released in February 2010. The album contained the two new songs from the previous tour, some songs written when it was "tra-la-la band", and some new compositions. The band began a tour of the UK and Europe in March 2010, beginning with a positively reviewed sold-out show in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

. It performed at the ATP I'll Be Your Mirror festival in October 2011 in

Asbury Park Asbury Park () is a beachfront city located on the Jersey Shore in Monmouth County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is part of the New York metropolitan area. As of the 2020 U.S. census, the city's population was 15,188

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

. The setlist included a new composition, "What We Loved was Not Enough".

''Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light On Everything'' (2014–present)

A new album was released in January 2014. It was shorter than most of the previous ones and recorded at Valcourt Studio. In an interview with Vish Khanna on his Kreative Kontrol podcast, Menuck reported plans to release a Record Store Day 12" and an EP later in the year, both of which the band had just finished recording. In another interview, this time with the Paper Crane Podcast, member

Jessica Moss Jessica Moss is a Canadian musician best known for playing violin and singing backing vocals in the post-rock band Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band since 2001, and is a founding member of Black Ox Orkestar. In addition ...

revealed that a reformation was set to take place in March of 2020 after the band's hiatus, but was offset due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. The future of the band is currently unknown.

Style

Music, lyrics and themes

While Menuck writes most of the words sung or spoken in the band's pieces, other band members also contribute. There are strong political motifs in the band's music, covering a variety of subjects from anarchy to war and freedom. '' 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons'', released in March 2008, was the first album to contain lyric sheets in its insert. Menuck's strident guitar work combines with strings, tape loops, and heavy drums to give the band its sound.

Presentation

Names

The band's original name, A Silver Mt. Zion, rather than a reference to the

Mount Zion Mount Zion ( he, הַר צִיּוֹן, ''Har Ṣīyyōn''; ar, جبل صهيون, ''Jabal Sahyoun'') is a hill in Jerusalem, located just outside the walls of the Old City (Jerusalem), Old City. The term Mount Zion has been used in the Hebrew ...

Jerusalem Jerusalem (; he, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם ; ar, القُدس ) (combining the Biblical and common usage Arabic names); grc, Ἱερουσαλήμ/Ἰεροσόλυμα, Hierousalḗm/Hierosóluma; hy, Երուսաղեմ, Erusałēm. i ...

, developed from a misheard song lyric. Menuck himself is

Jew Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""Th ...

ish, and motifs relating to Judaism are occasionally present in the band's music (he described the band's recording of their first album as a "Jewish experience"). All of the band's names have revolved around the words "Silver Mt. Zion", except "Thee Silver Mountain Reveries" for the 2004 EP.

Imagery and packaging

As with most Constellation releases, Silver Mt. Zion records come in recycled cardboard cases with detailed artwork, do not feature the band's name on the album cover (the band's name at any particular time can be found on the spine of each album) and no copyright details on the disc. ''13 Blues for Thirteen Moons'' was the first album case to feature a photo of the band inside (along with the lyric sheets). Birds tend to feature heavily in the artwork, often in detailed pictures. Album artwork has also included a sketch of a horse, a mountainscape from the back of a packet of cigarettes and a picture of

Nina Simone Eunice Kathleen Waymon (February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003), known professionally as Nina Simone (), was an American singer, songwriter, pianist, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, ...

(in relation to the song "God Bless Our Dead Marines").

Band dynamics

Menuck is often identified as the band's frontman and leader, even though he has repeatedly stated that this is not the case. Though Menuck's voice and lyrics are often prominent on the records, everyone in the band sings on stage, contributing to the harmonies while standing in a semicircle, with members facing each other as often as the audience. The band's dynamic has gone through changes with additions and replacements in the line-up. Trudeau's breaking her collarbone in a motorbike accident prevented them from touring, leading the band to spend time working more singing into their pieces. Drummer Scott Levine Gilmore's replacement, Eric Craven, contributed a louder and more lively feel; Craven was subsequently replaced by drummer David Payant. Menuck, speaking for the band in interview, has said "

hey all Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...

believe in music as labour".

Members

Current members

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboa ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

, sound effects * David Payant –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

organ Organ may refer to: Biology * Organ (biology), a part of an organism Musical instruments * Organ (music), a family of keyboard musical instruments characterized by sustained tone ** Electronic organ, an electronic keyboard instrument ** Hammond ...

, vocals *

– violin, vocals * Sophie Trudeau –

, vocals *

–

double bass The double bass (), also known simply as the bass () (or #Terminology, by other names), is the largest and lowest-pitched Bow (music), bowed (or plucked) string instrument in the modern orchestra, symphony orchestra (excluding unorthodox addit ...

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, vocals

Former members

Ian Ilavsky Ian or Iain is a name of Scottish Gaelic origin, derived from the Hebrew given name (Yohanan, ') and corresponding to the English name John. The spelling Ian is an Anglicization of the Scottish Gaelic forename ''Iain''. It is a popular name in Sc ...

–

harmonium The pump organ is a type of free-reed organ that generates sound as air flows past a vibrating piece of thin metal in a frame. The piece of metal is called a reed. Specific types of pump organ include the reed organ, harmonium, and melodeon. T ...

voice The human voice consists of sound made by a human being using the vocal tract, including talking, singing, laughing, crying, screaming, shouting, humming or yelling. The human voice frequency is specifically a part of human sound production in ...

–

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

* Eric Craven –

Scott Levine Gilmore Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra was a Canadian post-rock band that formed in 1999, originating from Montreal, Quebec. Variations of the name used on the band's releases include A Silver Mt. Zion, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & ...

–

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

Timeline

Discography

LPs

* 2000: '' He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms...'' ** Released as: A Silver Mt. Zion * 2001: ''

Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward ''Born into Trouble as the Sparks Fly Upward'' is the second album by the Canadian band The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. It was released by Constellation Records in October 2001. The title is drawn from the Book of J ...

'' ** Released as: The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band * 2003: '' "This Is Our Punk-Rock," Thee Rusted Satellites Gather + Sing,'' ** Released as: The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band with Choir * 2005: ''

Horses in the Sky ''Horses in the Sky'' is the fourth album by the Canadian post-rock band Silver Mt. Zion, this time under the alias Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band. This is the first Silver Mt. Zion release to feature lyrics on every ...

'' ** Released as: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band * 2008: '' 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons'' ** Released as: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band * 2010: '' Kollaps Tradixionales'' ** Released as: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra * 2014: ''

Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything ''Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything'' is the seventh and final studio album by the Canadian experimental rock group Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. The album was released on January 20, 2014 on Constellation Records. The ...

'' ** Released as: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra

EPs

* 2004: '' The "Pretty Little Lightning Paw" E.P.'' ** Released as: Thee Silver Mountain Reveries * 2012: ''"The West Will Rise Again" E.P.'' ** Released as: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra * 2014: ''

Hang On to Each Other ''Hang On to Each Other'' is the third EP by Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra. The EP was released on April 29, 2014, on Constellation. The EP contains two electronic/dance remixes of "Hang On to Each Other" from ''Horses in the Sky ...

'' ** Released as: Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra

Compilations

* 2004: ''

Song of the Silent Land ''Song of the Silent Land'' (2004) is the second various-artists compilation album from Constellation Records, and their first to feature unreleased and hard-to-find tracks from the label roster: 13 of the 14 tracks were previously unreleased. ...

'' (Constellation Records compilation) ** One original track as Silver Mt. Zion: "Iron Bridge to Thunder Bay"

References

External links

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
at Constellation Records *
Live performances available in the public domain for download
at the

Internet Archive The Internet Archive is an American digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It provides free public access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, software applications/games, music, ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Silver Mt. Zion Canadian post-rock groups Musical groups from Montreal Musical collectives Musical groups established in 1999 Constellation Records (Canada) artists English-language musical groups from Quebec 1999 establishments in Quebec