F♯ A♯ ∞ (Vinyl Version)

F♯ A♯ ∞ (which you may pronounce as “F-sharp, A-sharp, Infinity”) is the first actual album released by Godspeed You Black Emperor!, back when their exclamation mark was still in the end of the band’s name.

The album is a collage of many instrumental pieces, spoken word monologues, field recordings, tape loops and other experimentations, most of it recorded at the Hotel2Tango in the Mile End of Montreal. Some of those recordings date back as far as 1993, four years before the LP was released by Constellation Records. On 8 June 1998, by Kranky released an expanded edition.

The CD and the vinyl version differ significantly in terms of track titles, order and length.

As the vinyl version does not name its movements, they were taken from the CD version. This means that the last movement in Side A “Nervous, Sad, Poor…”, absent on the CD, remains untitled. Also, the vinyl has a locked groove at the end, which makes it run infinitely – repeating the chords f# and a# that give the album its title.

F# A# ∞ was recorded at the original Hotel2Tango in spring 1997 on a rented 16-track tape deck and supplemented with various field recordings. In the preceding year, the band had taken shape as a quasi-orchestral outfit involving most of the players that would go on to make three more records and tour the world many times. This is the first recorded document of Godspeed as a large band and is soaring, fragile, awkward, heartbreaking stuff. Constellation released a vinyl-only pressing of 500 copies in August 1997, with LP jackets hand made by the label, the band, and various local artisans. It has since gone through dozens of re-presses, with virtually all of the original packaging elements preserved. The opening monologue on Side One (“Dead Flag Blues”) is taken from Incomplete Movie About Jail, an unfinished film by Efrim.
– Constellation Records