Thee Silver Mount Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-la-la Band stopped by the Turner Ballroom Friday night to deliver a performance that ebbed and flowed. The Dead Science opened.
When you first hear the name of the band -- in one of its many incarnations (such as A Silver Mt. Zion, Thee Silver Mountain Reveries and The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band with Choir ... its song titles are just as ridiculous) -- you may immediately sense some pretension. While that may not be wholly inaccurate, the band, consisting of guitar, bass, drums, upright bass, cello, two violins and other instruments, provides an immersive experience.
The music is based on dynamic shifts of calm, then storm, followed by aftermath. The band takes a lot of time building and layering the sounds, with low bass frosted with moaning violins, swirling with deep cello sounds, all the while pushed forward through percussion.
Efrim Menuck wailed over the top, eyes closed, until suddenly the Canadian septet exploded into a fury of noise. The bows tore down the strings and the drums filled with urgency. The vocals drowned in the sea of noise, and the band chugged along, until, just as suddenly, the noise collapsed out from under them, leaving only the bass and the vocals struggling to hold on. They continued to hang in there, only a slight memory of it's previous sound, until, gradually, the other instruments found their way back into the picture, rebuilding even more slowly to what they once had.
But the show wasn't all seriousness. Normally I'm a champion of keeping audience interaction to a minimum, but the band was in good spirits, riffing on Riversplash ("There's a Metal-Country band on one side, and a rock band on the other, and depending on which way the wind blows, the music changes. That's crazy, and you should probably leave and see that instead"), riffing on Buckethead, who was also performing that night (After an audience member called out "Buckethead for President", he replied "See that's [America's] problem, right there. Buckethead would make a terrible president,") and on Axl Rose ("He'd make a great policy maker as the Troubled Youth Czar").
One of the nice parts about bands like Thee Silver Mount Zion is that it is something you don't have to be familiar with in order to see. It's music that takes time to develop and doesn't require any hooky, poppy lyrics. It's much more pastoral, much more cinematic in nature and it's very easy to find yourself lost in the emotional impact
If you're disappointed that you missed Thee Silver Mount Zion, it would probably be a wise idea to clear your schedule for July 19 and check out Boris, an experimental, psychedelic rock trio from Japan.
Jason McDowell grew up in central Iowa and moved to Milwaukee in 2000 to attend the Milwaukee Institute of Art and Design.
In 2006 he began working with OnMilwaukee as an advertising designer, but has since taken on a variety of rolls as the Creative Director, tackling all kinds of design problems, from digital to print, advertising to branding, icons to programming.
In 2016 he picked up the 414 Digital Star of the Year award.
Most other times he can be found racing bicycles, playing board games, or petting dogs.
