Taking its title, and allegedly its musical structure, from Thomas Pynchon's most recent novel 'Against The Day', this suitably epic album documents a sprawling multi-instrumental work from the Sam Shalabi-spearheaded Montreal ensemble Land Of Kush. Sam Shalabi has long been a staple of the Montreal music scene and is perhaps best known for the mind-expanding psychedelic voyages of his band Shalabi Effect, or his numerous solo and collaborative albums on the Alien8 label, but this is the first appearance on record of his massive Land Of Kush project, which has performed sporadically in Montreal over the last couple of years. Boasting a line-up of over 30 musicians and vocalists, including fellow Shalabi Effect member Anthony Seck and such Constellation luminaries as Godspeed You! Black Emperor and Silver Mt. Zion bassist Thierry Amar, Silver Mt. Zion cellist Rebecca Foon and Godspeed You! Black Emperor cellist Norsola Johnson, it is perhaps no surprise how rich and complex the album is. The music expands with a vast orchestral scale and depth, with the players weaving some masterful complexities through the driving rhythms that underpin the three central pieces, each featuring a different solo vocalist, with all of it beautifully recorded and mixed by Efrim Menuck at the regular Hotel2Tango studios. Moving from abstract atmospheric drones and wordless vocal and instrumental explorations to extended passages of more straight-ahead rousing rhythmic big-band jams and then back again, this massive, daunting work has a strong feel of non-western, and particularly middle-eastern, influence throughout. 'Against The Day' is a glorious and much needed document of the richness and intensity of this grand rock orchestra and is perhaps the most epic realisation yet of Sam Shalabi's sprawling and complex psychedelic visions.'Against The Day' is available now on Constellation.
Land Of Kush
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