New Music Tuesday: Mogwai 'As the Love Continues'
Reconnecting with the Scottish noise-rockers
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If you’re unfamiliar with Mogwai, their new album, As the Love Continues, is a great starting point.
Now on their tenth full-length record, along with endless EPs and soundtrack work, the Glaswegians show no signs of letting up on their formula for writing the perfect post-rock instrumental.
Mogwai started their careers with a slower, more sparse sound but have learned that they are best when they take a simple melody and let a beautiful wall of sound build around it. The opening track “To the Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth” is an excellent example of this as it builds around a heartbeat accompanied by synth and piano. Slowly the guitar fills in the melody while a ride cymbal tells the listener they are in for a gorgeous journey. As the chugging guitar hits you over the head, a saw-like synth hook guides the group to grandeur. Mogwai would have let the guitar speak for itself in their infancy, but the band’s maturity has led to their fullest sound yet.
The same can goes for “Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever,” also fantastic, before cooling off with “Dry Fantasy,” which is just as engaging. Songs with lyrics are rare in the Mogwai catalog, but a few are on this album. With vocals from guitarist Stuart Braithwaite, “Ritchie Sacramento” almost sounds like the band is ready for the radio. Still, they make the vocals borderline unintelligible on “Fuck Off Money,” sounding like something French duo Air would create.
My album highlight is “Ceiling Granny” (Mogwai only rival Minus the Bear in track titles, with this one named after this scene from Exorcist III). The band strips back all of the layers that have been building towards the song by giving us a Siamese Dream-era Smashing Pumpkins track. Not only does the drum part sound like something from Jimmy Chamberlin, but it also has the melodic magic that Billy Corgan and James Iha found in the early 90s. Even better for the listener, we get to enjoy the Big Muff pedal's sound without hearing Corgan sing.
“Ceiling Granny” segues into “Midnight Flit,” the album’s prettiest track. Accompanied by Atticus Ross (Nine Inch Nails, endless film credits, and awards) and Kirk Hellie, the band builds around an ambient electronic loop with keys and drums before giving a full orchestra and distorted guitars. While fighting decreased attention spans, the album format is as vital as ever, and the sequencing of these two tracks is an excellent example of why.
As the Love Continues still has the band’s signature glacial peaks, but they are updated to feel as relevant as ever in the time of rapid climate change. The highs are still there but they’ve been melted down for a lusher feel. Produced by the prolific Dave Fridmann during the lockdown, the band quarantined together in central England while Fridmann worked with them over Zoom from New York. The arrangement has paid off in spades as the band continues their signature sound, but they’ve never sounded more vibrant, thanks in part to their adaptive living arrangement. It’s also the rare feat that a band keeps mostly the same lineup for over 20 years, and their comfort with each other shows.
I first got into Mogwai after downloading (does anyone remember emusic.com?) their second album, Come On Die Young. Following the natural path of Radiohead into Sigur Rós, I sought out any ambient noise music. My appreciation for Mogwai continued with my love of EP (“Stanley Kubrick” is a masterpiece) and I kept up with them through 2006’s Mr. Beast. For no particular reason, I lost track of Mogwai and was excited to hear them again with As the Love Continues, which made this quote from the band about their veteran vitality stand out to me:
“The simplest answer is that we all really still enjoy it. If what you’re doing isn’t fun, then it’s pretty easy for everyone to tell. It is also harder to get people to keep listening. We are still really excited about doing something different each time, but having fun is the most important part.”
As the Love Continues will not only keep me listening, it reinvigorated my love for Mogwai, and I look forward to going back to the stuff I’ve missed.
Rating: ✌️✌️✌️✌️/ 5
Available via Rock Action Records.
Mogwai reminds me the band "War on Drugs"