For their sixth album on their pals
Godspeed You Black Emperor!'s Constellation label, Canadian post-rockers
Do Make Say Think offer four long tracks, each named for a different word of the band's name. According to the label, the tunes are titled in this manner because the band feels like
The Other Truths represents the ultimate distillation of the group's musical message. Imagine if you will, though, that there's a more literal-minded logic at work, and each track's sonic setting truly corresponds to its one-word title; once you start thinking about it, it's by no means a far-fetched notion. Album-opener "Do," for instance, is undeniably the most active track, chugging along on the strength of kinetic, forward-moving rhythms and concise, rather
Mogwai-like guitar riffs for what is probably the closest thing to a conventional rock (or at least post-rock) feel, occasionally teetering toward a
Neu!-like Motorik beat. This is clearly music in motion. "Make" marks a shift towards a less streamlined, busier sound. Midtempo, syncopated rhythms rub up against thick chunks of distorted guitar, and one is tempted to think of an expedition slowly making its way up an incline, beginning to build a city once they get to the top -- a city whose skyscrapers lurch toward the sky like horn lines that echo La Monte Young's work with trombone drones. Things are indeed being constructed here. Sure enough, "Say" is defined by a latticework of interlocking guitar riffs captured in an overlapping conversation with each other -- Tower of Babel-esque it may be, but it's undoubtedly a form of communication. And finally, damned if "Think" doesn't have the most contemplative vibe of the four cuts, making good use of open spaces, working with cyclical, minimalist melodic structures, and focusing more on tone and atmosphere than anything else. So did
Do Make Say Think actually intend to attach this level of conceptualism to "Do," "Make," "Say," and "Think?" Probably not, but it sure is fun to listen to that way. ~ J. Allen