POP MTL | Canadian post-rock veterans at work

The veteran Canadian post-rock band closed Pop Montreal 2025, the highlight of Sunday night at the Rialto. With no less than three decades of existence, a signing with Constellation in 1998, seven albums, two EPs, and a long hiatus between 2017 and 2025. Here we are. It must be said again that Toronto’s Do Make Say Think enjoys a greater reputation in English Canada, as the collective has never had the international impact and aura of Godspeed You! Black Emperor.

Old bikers never die, and a powerful combo rocked the stage on Sunday night to set the record straight.

The orchestra is theoretically composed of Ohad Benchetrit (guitar, bass guitar, saxophone, flute), David Mitchell (drums), James Payment (drums), Justin Small (guitar, bass, keyboards), Charles Spearin (bass, guitar, trumpet, cornet), Julie Penner (violin, trumpet), Michael Barth (trumpet), and Adam Marv (trumpet). On stage, we also spotted an alto saxophonist and two additional violinists. The programme consisted of an hour and a half of post-rock mixed with American minimalism, chamber jazz, noise and prog, reminding us of the vastness of this instrumental world, which has clearly stood the test of time, given the large crowd and enthusiasm at the Rialto.

First and foremost, this is a collective work, very open-minded, bringing together instrumentalists of varying levels of virtuosity. These pieces highlight sections of the orchestra, individuals, or even the entire orchestra, and feature compositions built on a variety of motifs, whether electric guitar trills in dialogue with the strings or with the brass/ reeds, a discourse based on the bass and the measures composed of the two drum kits around which all the instruments are brought into play, or a hardcore rock sequence served up like a quotation, this music without words proves to be accessible given its rock origins and post-rock allegiances.

Listen more closely and you realize its relative architectural simplicity. The same is true, you might say, of most well-known pop-rock bands (Godspeed, Tortoise, etc.), but the diversity of compositional strategies in Do May Say Think does not leave the same impression of a clear and massive identity as can be seen in other bands of the same ilk. Nevertheless nourishing, and perfectly suited for a highlight of POP MTL.