The Canadian anti-capitalist post-rockers rage against the machine once more, making a list of demands in the liner notes including “an end to borders” and “the expert fuckers who broke this world never get to speak again”. Their lyric-free music evokes that political chaos – unmoored sheets of symphonic guitars blow through everything, as brass and woodwind howl at each other like red and blue states. But there’s also a kind of hope in the way that these elements eventually cohere around massive melodies, like a New Orleans brass band finding each other in a hurricane. And even if the building dynamics are the stuff of post-rock cliche, the multi-part suites Bosses Hang and Anthem for No State are saved from vague posturing by urgent rhythm sections powering them over the barricades.
