Storm Static Sleep: A Pathway Through Post Rock

by Jack Chuter

It was around the release of Godspeed’s subsequent full-length in 2015 – Asunder, Sweet and Other Distress – that I saw them play live for the first time. The unique, democratic energy flow between the band and their sound had never been so apparent. A low drone started rising through the floor before the band had even taken the stage, creeping upward to tickle the acknowledgement of the audience’s subconscious, and then further up to engulf their idle conversation. Slowly the sound materialised, and only once it was a huge, omnipresent hum shuddering through the space did the band members appear, with each instrument promptly sucked into the drone like a black hole swallowing stars. Strings and guitars were forcefully calibrated to the monotony. There was no member to whom the others were subservient; instead, the group were under the command of their own sound, stepping into an entity that had materialised even before they did.