We occasionally stray from our purely instrumental path. Perhaps we want to highlight a small artist who merits a brighter spotlight, or perhaps an artist is simply too significant – too seminal – to overlook. Efrim Manuel Menuck belongs in the latter category: the recognisable enigma who arguably “fronts” the most significant post-rock band of our time. He ventured solo for his first LP in 2011, just as Godspeed You! Black Emperor were stirring from their lengthy slumber. Now, the band are back in full swing, humanity still seeks out its own demise, and Menuck continues to pen responses with impassioned intensity.

Pissing Stars is in places as uncomfortable a listen as its title suggests. Following GYBE’s and even Silver Mt. Zion’s recent energised bombast, Menuck appears as something of a drained, desperate force. His liner notes talk of the ‘giddiness of enervation’ and ‘liberation of being emptied’. The first…