A collection of songs pushed to maximum density, marked by dark shoegazer guitars, distorted organ stabs, rubbery basslines, motorik drumming and various shrouded voices whispering, screaming and singing along the way – this album contains Fly Pan Am’s most intense sounds yet. While each side of the record is anchored by a long, non-linear piece juxtaposing the band against tape and electronic treatments, several tracks are as close as the group came to traditional rock/pop structures, with ‘chorus’ breaks, melodic ‘hooks’ and vocals. Of course, being Fly Pan Am, all of this is duly bracketed – there is nothing traditional about the results, and the various elements are pushed forward or pulled back in anything but conventional ways. These are careening, carnivalesque tunes that somehow wed the browns and pinks of their guitar noise with yeye pop, Boredoms-style noise incantations and hardcore punk. N’écoutez pas features a long list of local guest vocalists to supplant the band’s own oral action, as well as electronic interventions from fellow Montrealers Tim Hecker and Alexandre St-Onge.