All My Favourite Singers Couldn't Sing. #1 Efrim Menuck

Perhaps the most famous lyric from the oft-quotable ex-Silver Jew Dave Berman, "all my favourite singers couldn't sing" hits the nail right on the head for me, in that a good frontman (or woman) possesses presence and individuality, and not neccessarily a voice fit for opera. There are of course notable exceptions, but a singer who is less than pitch-perfect, but performs with intensity and earnestness often manages to overcome their flaws, or even make assets out of them.

Efrim Menuck takes these criteria to the extreme. Having perhaps been the closest thing to a frontman for the monumental instrumental rock band Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Efrim took to the mic for A Silver Mt Zion (now Thee Silver Mt Zion Memorial Orchestra, having gone through a number of name changes inbetween), and with each subsequent release Efrim has taken on more and more vocal duties. Many feel he should've stuck to the guitar. His persistently off-key yowls, coupled with his strange French-Canadianisms (which make him sound like a drunk with a cold) are an acquired taste's acquired taste. Menuck sings with a reckless abandon, that's admirable to some, infuriating to others, and his voice to many is the deciding factor on whether you're a fan of ASMZ or not.

I've always sided with Menuck though. With each release, Menuck's confidence has clearly risen, and his intensity is beyond question. With GSY!BE, Menuck and his bandmates expressed their non-conformism through spoken recordings from Blaise Bailey Finnegan III and tree-diagrams of the record industry on their album sleeves; with ASMZ, Efrim challenges conformity just by opening his mouth. When the band incorporated a choir into their ranks, it wasn't a choir in the traditional sense, but a rag-tag bunch of unschooled singers, with Efrim perfectly cast as their riveting ringleader. And when he does tone it down, on songs like Movie (Never Made), his fragile falsetto is a thing of unexpected beauty.

Seeing ASMZ live a couple of years ago is what ultimately convinced me of Efrim's virtues as a vocalist, and whilst the heaviness of their last two albums are a far cry from their spectral beginnings as a trio on He Has Left Us Alone..., I regard them as their finest releases since that early high-water mark. I continue to follow their development with great interest.