A couple of days ago, Fucked Up made a big announcement. After nearly 20 years, they’re finally ready to finish their sprawling Zodiac series — the run of long, complicated, increasingly ambitious records, each dedicated to a different year of the Chinese Zodiac calendar. The final three installments will be spread out over five LPs, which means we’re looking at a year where Fucked Up will release ten extremely long works of grand-scale rock ‘n’ roll opera. The first of those ten works is out now, and it’s really something.
When Fucked Up announced their plans for the new five-LP work Grass Can Move Stones, they shared a brief excerpt of “Long Ago Gardens,” one of two tracks on the Year Of The Goat LP. Today, we get to hear the entire song, which goes through tons of different tones, genres, and voices in its 28-minute running time. The lead vocalists here are Fucked Up singer Damian Abraham, as the Monkey, and their more recent collaborator Tuka Mohammed as the Good Goat. Those two could not possibly sound more different, and there’s a lot of power in the contrast of their voices. Other voices make appearances, too.
According to the band, Year Of The Goat includes appearances from Jennifer Castle, the Weather Station’s Tamara Lindeman, and Integrity’s Dwid Hellion. I think I hear more voices than that on “Long Ago Gardens,” though. At various points, somebody’s just chanting through a vocoder, and that voice doesn’t sound like any of those people. Parts of “Long Ago Gardens” works as bright psychedelic rock, while others descent into demonic metallic hardcore. I’m on my first listen now, and I’m having trouble wrapping my brain around the scope of this thing. I can tell you that it rocks, though. Listen below.
Grass Can Move Stones Part 1: Year of The Goat by Fucked Up
Year Of The Goat is out 12/12 on Tankcrimes.
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