Winter Hymn Country Secret in Bloomington, MN

Montreal's
Godspeed You Black Emperor!
may get most of the press south of the 49th parallel, but their labelmates
Do Make Say Think
are more than Toronto's answer to the Quebecois collective; over the course of four albums, their own brand of
instrumental post-rock
has grown in scope and complexity to a point that 2003's
Winter Hymn Country Hymn Secret Hymn
is as good as or better than anything the more famous band has released. Although the nine lengthy tracks all start similarly to
Godspeed
's epic
slowcore
, with single guitar, percussion or horn lines that float unmoored for seconds or even minutes before other instruments slowly coalesce around them. But where
's songs all tend to follow the same basic epic format, these songs are much more varied in both length and textures, ranging from the
King Crimson
-like slow build into squalling guitar-based
rock
of
"Frederica"
to the dizzying
orchestral
cut-ups of
"Auberge le Mouton Noir"
to the jazzy
swing
of the horn-led
"Ontario Plates,"
which recalls the
post-fusion
experimentation of Norway's
Jaga Jazzist
. A richly detailed and musically compelling album that works both as a collection of songs and a fully integrated whole,
is a huge creative step forward for
. ~ Stewart Mason