Godspeed You! Black Emperor – F#A#∞

F#A#∞ (F-sharp, A-sharp, infinity) is the debut album from Godspeed You! Black Emperor, a ten-piece experimental music collective from Montreal. It was originally released in 1997 on vinyl and then re-released in an altered/expanded version on CD in 1998.

Although barely noticed on first release, the re-release was reviewed by the likes of AllMusic, New Musical Express and Pitchfork:

• AllMusic gave it 3 stars out of 5
• New Musical Express gave it an 8 out of 10
• Pitchfork gave it a 9.3 out of 10 and ranked it as the 45th best of album of the 1990s

I don't countConfession: I actually do own the CD version of this – I'm sure I bought it after it was included in some list of greatest Canadian albums, but barely (if ever) listened to it. Recently, I popped it into the player in my BMW, one miserable foggy morning during a drive to Drayton, and actually found it quite an appropriate mood piece. either the vinyl or CD version among my collection, perhaps because it has long vocal-less compositions divided into movements, many with titles that include ellipses, which all seems too clever by half.

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Track Listing

Personnel

• Aidan Girt – drums
• Bruce Cawdron – percussion
• Christophe – violin
• David Bryant – guitar
• Efrim Menuck – electric guitar
• Mauro Pezzente – bass guitar
• Mike Moya – guitar, banjo
• Norsola Johnson – cello
• Thea Pratt – French horn
• Thierry Amar – bass guitar