Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band in April 2007
Background information
Also known as	A Silver Mt. Zion Thee Silver Mountain Reveries Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band with Choir
Origin	Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Genres	Experimental rock, post-rock, art rock
Years active	1999–present
Labels	Constellation
Associated acts	Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Sackville, Vic Chesnutt, Black Ox Orkestar, Broken Social Scene, Set Fire to Flames
Website	tra-la-la-band.com
Members	Efrim Menuck Thierry Amar Sophie Trudeau Jessica Moss David Payant
Past members	Scott Levine Gilmore Ian Ilavsky Beckie Foon Eric Craven

Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra (previously A Silver Mt. Zion, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, The Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band with Choir and Thee Silver Mountain Reveries) is a Canadian band which formed in 1999, originating from Montreal, Quebec. They use a number of different variations of the name on different releases, but the group use the shorthand SMZ and their name is most often simplified to Silver Mt. Zion. Since their inception, the group has undergone almost yearly personnel changes. The band currently has five members following the resignation of three in late 2008.

The band has released seven studio albums and one EP, publishing them through the record label Constellation. Their debut album He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes Grace the Corner of Our Rooms… was released in 2000 and—with the exception of two tracks—is a purely instrumental record. As other records were created, their sound and membership progressively changed from a trio to a quintet. By the release of Horses in the Sky, the group became overwhelmingly vocal in its style.

The album Kollaps Tradixionales was released in February 2010. It consists of seven songs, three of which previously debuted at live performances. Another album Fuck Off Get Free We Pour Light on Everything was released January 2014.

Silver Mt. Zion's music has been described as "post-rock", though the band members are hesitant to use the term. Singer and guitarist Efrim Menuck identifies with punk rock ethos and aesthetic.

According to an interview with VPRO Radio in the Netherlands, Silver Mt. Zion originally began as a project in which Efrim Menuck hoped to learn how to score music. Already a guitarist in the Montreal-based musical collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor, he explained that he hoped to communicate better with his fellow musicians by getting familiar with music theory. This idea was soon abandoned as Menuck realized that he preferred not knowing precisely what he was doing when writing, opting to "fumble" instead.