Do Make Say Think — & Yet & Yet

Why does everybody always think of Godspeed You Black Emperor! when you mention Do Make Say Think? They are both on Constellation and write beautiful music, but aside from that they are totally different beasts. I admit that they, from time to time, have similar aesthetics (for example, the climatic part of the song "End of Music" on "& Yet & Yet" has a GYBE! vibe) but Do Make Say Think is much more compact and personal. Where GYBE! tries to be the aural equivalent of watching a world in ruin slowly burn and decay, DMST has a more pastoral and nuanced vocation. I wish I could describe how they sound easily by using some tag like "post-rock", "space-rock" or "jazzy-ambient rock" but it's not that simple.

First of all, the album is completely instrumental except for sweet angelic vocalizations by Tamara Williamson on "Soul And Onward", a track that is a real diamond on an album filled to the brim with precious stones. The foundations on which the band build the songs are solid and musical drums which are played very dynamically, from the subtle jazzy cymbal work to the pounding and pulsating funky beats, they are front stage and essential to the ascension of the songs to a higher plane. The bass is the anchor that keeps it all together and nicely fills the bottom end to give a warm and full sound to the album while the undistorted electric guitar repeats melodic motifs that, at times, remind me of Cul de Sac's last album and are as much textures as they are the focal melodic point. The most touching moments of the albums are often found in the pieces where Brian Cram's horn is present. This lonely trumpet conveys a feeling of majesty and fragility all at once and, on tracks like "Reitschule" and "Soul And Onward", it pulls exactly the right strings to reach the heart (as cheesy as it sounds, it is true).

This music has soul! It is human, it is varied, it is happy and sad, contemplative yet not inactive, atmospheric yet it demands active listening and, best of all, it is ambitious yet unpretentious. I believe this Do Make Say Think album was just promoted as my favorite Constellation release (well, in the top 3 at least), which isn't a small feat considering that they are known (by myself at least) to release high quality music with exceptional artistic value and integrity. DO yourself a favour, MAKE yourself buy this, I know that afterwards you will SAY that you THINK it is great. Something like this doesn't come by everyday.