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

Montreal’s post-rock collective Silver Mt. Zion has grown steadily over the past ten years—both in membership and in unwieldy moniker—to coalesce into a prolific working band. Following their 2005 double-album, Horses in the Sky, members have participated in several related offshoots (Thee Silver Mountain Reveries) and collaborations (Carla Bozulich, Vic Chesnutt). The sundry projects have been released by Constellation Records and recorded at the label’s notorious studio Hotel2Tango, where Efrim Menuck and Thierry Amar (both of SMZ and Godspeed You! Black Emperor) work as house engineers.

On 13 Blues, SMZ continues to employ its chamber approach to drone—featuring two violins, cello and double bass, in addition to bass, drums and guitar. As on Horses, vocals are now fully integrated in the arrangements. Menuck’s lyrics consist of beautifully dreary refrains that are catchy as hell, if you’re a tortured high-school poet (“We’re building trainwrecks in the setting sun”). The opening track, “1,000,000 Died to Make This Sound,” gradually intensifies like a slow burn, while the titular centerpiece is a blues-inflected vamp drawn out over 16 minutes (the album’s four tracks clock in at just under one hour); stammering back and forth, it allows the dynamics to expand and contract—a cornerstone of the band’s approach to songwriting. Yet SMZ doesn’t succumb to the pitfalls of over-ambitious arrangements. Instead, it sounds communal, like a choir of squatters.

TSMZMOATLLB rolls into Logan Square Auditorium Saturday 31.