The anatomy of melancholy
Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Kristof Hahn
“NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” presented by Roadtrip to Outta Space at Arena Wien – Große Halle, Austria 20260313
In charge to open this night was no one else but Kristof Hahn, lap steel guitar and himself alone, one might better remember him because of the NY experimental band Swans.
There are a few things I can say about him and his set that set clear what was to see him perform. But if ambient could get any more grim and melancholic, Kristof made it possible with his evoking loneliness and sadness lyrics and then turning them in sounds.
With a heart as prepared as we can get, we all waited expectantly for the Canadians to take the stage. Ensemble arranged in a semi-circle, projectors ready to beam their very well-known collage of film loops.
Godspeed You! Black Emperor (GY!BE) slowly incorporated on the stage.
Instead of going through the 8 song setlist, I would like to better describe what I got from their performance and the combination of the different media they use to express lots.
From those who know, who have seen them life before, this show would be a shaking mind, heart, and soul experience. For those who didn’t, I embrace them and welcome them into this life’s disillusionment. Facing the horrors of the world is nothing but painful and awakening. It is on us to decide how to take it.
GY!BE made a dissection of “The Anatomy of Melancholy”, this feeling that is normally attributed to no apparent reason. However, GY!BE provides us with more details of the source of this long lasting sadness. As in my understanding, melancholy has a rooting foundation in something greater and beautiful that we feel lost.
Starting from a glimpse of Hope (Hope Drone), and making it obvious that the world is indeed a place to grow hope. If we put enough attention, we could find it in the little things, and maybe then build this natural feeling of caring for those fragile yet magnanimous things. (SUN IS A HOLE SUN IS VAPORS)
However, the more we know about this world, the more horrors are unveiled. The insatiable greed of the system we live in, the buried and extinguished victims of colonialism (BABYS IN A THUNDERCLOUD / RAINDROPS CAST IN LEAD), and entire landscapes destroyed (Fire at Static Valley).
This shock and realization find us as a chasing thought to remind us all that things are only getting worse through time. And we are all spectators to it (PALE SPECTATOR TAKES PHOTOGRAPHS / GREY RUBBLE – GREEN SHOOTS). This hopelessness calls for action, desperation yells out of frustration.
It is in all this disillusionment, and facing these horrors to the eye. Where we can sink into the aforementioned melancholy. Yet, the sinking is just a result of inaction (Moya). With mind and feelings wide open, we just gotta be aware and careful enough not to lose them (BBFIII).