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 tilte.
Track Listing:
A Nervous, Sad, Poor ...
B Bleak, Uncertain, Beautiful ...
Year of Production: 1997
