SLOW TRAVEL BERLIN
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra, Volksbühne, 9pm
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra has gone through its fair share of name changes since forming in 1999, but rest assured that the Canadian five-piece hasn’t strayed from its goal of staying true to itself. Touting a punk rock ethos infused with an instrumental post-rock-esque sound, the band has been making waves since it first burst onto the Montreal music scene.
SMZ, as the band is often referred to as, is perhaps most well-known via member Efrim Menuck, who also plays in Godspeed You! Black Emperor. But the band is important in its own right – much more than a side project, rather an organic entity unto itself.
In January, the group’s seventh full-length, “Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything,” was released by Montreal-based Constellation Records. The album features the standard array of SMZ instrumentation, with guitar, bass, organ, piano, violin, percussion, and various sound effects, along with collaborative vocals.
And speaking of the latter, though the band established itself in the instrumental scene, the lyrics on these six songs are every bit as engaging as the music itself. Natalye Childress
Volksbühne, Linienstraße 227, 10178, Berlin; Tel: 0 30 24 06 57 77; U: Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz; admission €20.