Godspeed You! Black Emperor's Efrim Manuel Menuck announces 21-minute instrumental

He’s one of the most innovative names in experimental music, and now de facto Godspeed You! Black Emperor leader Efrim Manuel Menuck has announced his latest forthcoming release.

Having served as one of the founding members of Canadian post-rock collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor back in 1994, Efrim Manuel Menuck has spent much of the last three decades carving out a reputation as one of the most prolific and celebrated names on the experimental music scene.

In addition to his work as the leader of A Silver Mt. Zion, and his solo releases, Menuck has managed to create some of the most immersive and emotionally devastating compositions ever known. With an inimitable talent of touching the bare soul of human existence with his primarily instrumental works, any release from Menuck is more than worth writing home about.

While Godspeed last shared an album in 2017, Menuck released his second solo album, Pissing Stars, in 2018. Now, after the release of a collaboration with Kevin Doria in 2019, the acclaimed artist is sharing a new solo piece as part of the Sydney-based online series, Longform Editions.

Cover artwork for the new piece by Efrim Manuel Menuck — Cover artwork for the new instrumental by Efrim Manuel Menuck.

First launched in 2018, Longform Editions functions as an evolving collective of artists who provide deep, immersive listening experiences by way of extended pieces of singular focus. Previous artists to have contributed to Longform Editions include the likes of Caterina Barbieri, Shy Layers, Inoyama Land, and Penelope Trappes.

Menuck’s contribution, a 21-minute instrumental, is dubbed ‘STARLING TROUBLES SPARROW’, and in addition to evoking memories of the artwork and title of A Silver Mt. Zion’s second album, was inspired by a battle between starlings and sparrows in trees near his home.

“The sparrows are better organised, and all the starlings have is brute strength,” Menuck explains of the piece, which feels al the more relevant in the current climate. “[This] song is dedicated to any [and] all who rise thusly, together in spite of or not at all.”