TELEGRAPHS IN NEGATIVE / MOUTHS TRAPPED IN STATIC

There was something I suspected after listening to Set Fire to Flames’ first album, but only confirmed after hearing this one: Efrim Menuck really was the genius behind Godspeed You! Black Emperor. Of all the Constellation bands to come out of that Mile End cult (er, “movement”), the only other one that holds up against Godspeed is A Silver Mt. Zion, and Menuck has been the driving force behind that band too. All the others – Hrsta, 1-Speed Bicycle, Shalabi Effect, etc. just seem to lack the dramatic intensity of Godspeed. And so it is with Set Fire to Flames, despite them claiming at least a half-dozen formed Godspeed and Mt Zion members among their group.

These guys remind me most of Fly Pan Am, another sort of Godspeed offshoot that practiced the same type of sonic sculpting of fuzz, feedback, haphazard crescendos, and violent strings. But both of these bands seem to revel in either twisting around easily recognizable Menuck arrangements, or simply scratching out some mildly interesting riff and then repeating it ad nausea. This just doesn’t capture the imagination and hold it like Menuck’s work tends to do.

Not to say there aren’t a few interesting tracks – with seventeen to choose from on this two-disc set, there was bound to be something worth listening to. “Buzz of Barn Flies like Faulty Electronics” is a kind of electronic/feedback/free form jazz on acid kind of thing that is actually quite original, although never really picks up any kind of steam. And the one immediately following it (“And The Birds Are About To Bust Their Guts With Singing”) sounds an awful lot like some of A Silver Mt Zion’s instrumental works, which is a compliment as far as I’m concerned.

And on the ‘Telegraphs in Negative’ disc “When Sorrow Shoots Her Darts” is a sonic delight with lots of tension and discordant strings that keeps a decent pace. But that is really the only mildly interesting track on that whole disk – the rest is a combination of barely perceptible strings, percussion, and rambling spoken-word tracks.

This is one of those albums where I am glad I got a chance to hear it before spending my own money, because it’s doubtful I will ever do so now. Hard-core post-rock fans may find this somewhat interesting, but for me it was a pretty boring way to spend an hour and a half of my life. Two stars, and not much more.

peace