The sixth full length since the band’s line up change of summer 2008. Full of raw and frazzled anthemic power and continuing to forge bold new ground in its search for a unique hybrid of punk, blues, psych, folk and modern orchestral idioms. Anchored by the fried electric guitar and voice of band leader Efrim Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor) SMZ continues to slide comfortably towards an expansive, loose and blues-inflected balladry. Needless to say, the slow burn with SMZ, bears little reference to typical notions of musical seduction, relaxation, or hip-swinging satisfaction. What smoulders here is much more precarious and anxious, driven by some of this decade’s more devastating lyrical conjurings – of the universal outsider and the thematics of 21st century western psychic oppression. As the lyrics to “There Is A Light” attest, these are no simple paeans to the human spirit, but songs of complex, desperate and thorny hope.
*The UK tour dates are as follows:
16 March BRISTOL, Fleece
17 March BIRMINGHAM, Asylum
18 March DUBLIN, The Button Factory
19 March GLASGOW, School Of Art
21 March MANCHESTER, Academy 3
22 March LEEDS, TJ’s Woodhouse Social Club
23 March LONDON, Electric Ballroom
24 March NOTTINGHAM, Rescue Rooms
25 March SHEFFIELD, Corporation
26 March OXFORD, The Regal
27 March BRIGHTON, St George Church