GODSPEED YOU! BLACK EMPEROR
‘ALLELUJAH! DON’T BEND! ASCEND!
CST081 180gLP+7″/ CD / DL

Out 15/16 October 2012



We are proud to announce the first new recordings by Godspeed You! Black Emperor in a decade. Featuring two twenty-minute slabs of epic instrumental rock music and two six-and-a-half minute drones, ‘ALLELUJAH! DON’T BEND! ASCEND! provides soaring, shining proof of the band’s powerful return to form.

Having emerged from hiatus at the end of 2010, GYBE undeniably picked up right where they left off, immediately re-capturing the sound and material that had fallen dormant in 2003 and driving it forward with every show of their extensive touring over the last 18 months. The new album presents the fruits of that labour: evolved and definitive versions of two huge compositions previously known to fans as ”Albanian” and ”Gamelan”, now properly titled as ”MLADIC” and ”WE DRIFT LIKE WORRIED FIRE” respectively. Accompanied by the new drones (stitched into the album sequence on CD; cut separately on their own 7″ for the LP version), GYBE have offered up a fifth album that is absolutely as vital, virulent, honest and heavy as anything in their discography.

We don’t have much time for mythology, but we’d be lying if we said the return of Godspeed You! Black Emperor in 2010 didn’t signify a whole lot to us as a marker from which to look back on the past decade, to reflect on what’s been gained or lost within the confines of independent music culture and what’s been gained or lost in the socio-political landscape writ large. Godspeed’s music will do that to you. It is music that bears witness to, channels and transforms this predominantly terrible, infuriating, venal and nihilistically sad story we’re all living, sharing, resisting, protesting, deconstructing and trying to change for the better. GYBE once again provide a uniquely moving and compelling soundtrack for these acts of analysis, defiance and ascension.

More info about ‘ALLELUJAH! DON’T BEND! ASCEND! is on our official release page.

The band has set off for two weeks of live dates around the United States, beginning Monday 01 October in Boston. They head to Europe in November, and Australia in February. All currently confirmed dates are here.