Godspeed You! Black Emperor’s song, Static, is often neglected in scholarly evaluations on the bands. However, I’ve decided to share with you a portion of my new scholarly essay, “Post-Rock, Post-Humanism: Beyond Sapiens”:

Static begins with the pure essence of static: The flickers of light and the mess of sound of the television long neglected. However, it takes a surprising turn towards divinity, and the idea of God’s prevalence in the universe. Following this is the acoustic creation of a church, empty and abandoned, and the essence of static can clearly be heard within this church. The whispers of God indeed.

This is followed by a cacophony, with which many boldly claim embodies the maddening effect of static, complete with the screams of the guitar. This is completely incorrect, as this claim completely contradicts “Storm”’s message, as stated earlier. Instead, this portion reflects the creation of the Earth by God, or by the Static of the Universe, as they are one in the same. Following the cacophony is emptiness and calm, the “calm after the Storm”, if you’ll pardon the pun, with only the whispers and echoes of a static long gone.