LIFT YOUR SKINNY FISTS LIKE ANTENNAS TO HEAVEN

After being completely mesmerized by Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada it was only a matter of time until I would get my hands on another Godspeed You! Black Emperor (or GY!BE) release. Once again I took the advice of the fellow Prog Archives-reviewers and picked the highest praised studio album as my next pick.

Beside being the most popular release in terms of number of ratings Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven is also the longest album recorded by this nine-piece collective with almost 90 minutes worth of music to explore here. The material is roughly split into four 20 minute long compositions, a style that is quite familiar to fans of progressive rock since everyone from Yes (Tales From Topographic Oceans) to Klaus Schulze have used this format back in the day when vinyls limited the composition lengths. It also happens to be one of my least favorite formats to explore since it's easy for me to pick out one or two favorites out of the bunch leaving the other compositions out in the cold. Once this happens it usually becomes difficult for me to get into the rest of the material especially since I rarely manage to sit through these type of records in one go.

Storm became my favorite composition from the first time I've heard it. I guess that the build-up that is incorporated into the piece is the easiest one to relate to due to its simplicity. It slowly transitions from a pleasant and quite beginning all the way to the loud conclusion that ends towards the 18th minute. The last 5 minutes of Storm start with a Welcome to Barco-announcement followed by a very sad epilogue that makes this composition a well-balanced piece of art to my ears.

The other three compositions lack the simple structure of the first piece which therefore have become a lot harder for me to appreciate. Sleep comes close to the fluent style of Storm since it's only split into three sections. Still I'm not too fond of the intro narration that supposedly should create a sense of nostalgia in the listener's mind, this is definitely one of those occasions where I would have preferred the music to do the talking instead.

Granted that I still don't feel exceptionally accustomed to Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven even though I've given this album quite a few spins over the years, it almost feels like I'll never grow into this music as well as I did with the much shorter Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada. Still this is an album well worth exploring once you've started to acquire the taste for GY!BE and their magnificent music.

***** star songs: Storm (22:32)

**** star songs: Static (22:36) Sleep (23:17) Antennas To Heaven (18:57)