“Grey Rubble - Green Shoots” by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

Regardless of where you stand on the conflict between Israel and Palestine, the senseless loss of innocent life is something that should grieve us all. It certainly does Montreal’s Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The title of their upcoming album — No Title As of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead — refers to the death toll in Gaza from the ongoing conflict with Israel. Or, as the band puts it:

What gestures make sense while tiny bodies fall? What context? What broken melody? And then a tally and a date to mark a point on the line, the negative process, the growing pile. The sun setting above beds of ash while we sat together, arguing.

The Canadian outfit has always possessed the ability to capture, and mourn, humanity’s darkness via their elegiac-yet-defiant post-rock, with its surging guitars and contemplative string arrangements. “Grey Rubble — Green Shoots” thus feels like an entirely appropriate response to the ongoing conflict. (Calling it a “soundtrack” feels too trite and dismissive.) It’s not all sturm und drang, though; the song’s final minutes play out like a requiem, one that implores us to stop arguing, confront the darkness within ourselves and our nations, and do something about it. Again, from the band:

This new century will be crueler still. War is coming. Don’t give up. Pick a side. Hang on. Love.

No Title As of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead will be released by Constellation Records on October 4, 2024.