VERY GOOD: GY!BE comeback

I'm sure that everyone who cares is already well aware that Godspeed You! Black Emperor have ended their lengthy hiatus and are curating All Tomorrow's Parties' december festival, Nightmare Before Christmas. I'm also sure that some people who are aware of this couldn't give two hoots. Indeed, when I initially found out, I was a little surprised but mostly indifferent.
In my teens I completely fell in love with post-rock, but after a Mogwai gig which was, to say the least, Absolutely Fucking Rubbish, my feelings for the genre faded and now all I have to show for it is a few dusty records and a tiny tattoo. But Godspeed are different to other bands.

Upon a recent listen, I remember what I said to a friend when I first heard Lift Your Skinny Fists: it was along the lines of "I can't imagine listening to anything else ever again". Their songs are long and sweeping and beautiful: it is like they know some secret about humanity, but they can't tell us, so give us gut wrenching swathes of music to contend with instead, to fathom it out for ourselves. This, combined with a sense of mystery fostered through a rejection of mainstream culture, means that, to some at least, Godspeed are deities.

And this is why their return is so very, very good.