Maybe it’s just me, but it seems that
Mogwai haven’t released an album to a great deal of critical acclaim since
2003’s Happy Songs for Happy People.
There was, to be fair, a lot of praise for their soundtrack work including Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait
and last year’s Les Revenants. As far
as studio albums go, however, it’s been a while since Mogwai had their bite. I
think Rave Tapes, their eighth studio
album, is the game changer. I am a Mogwai fan. I busted my knee at their Music Hall
show a few years back by somehow interacting a little harshly with the barrier
during their performance. Yet for all that, the last three albums have felt a
little….well…they haven’t exactly been Rock
Action heights of brilliance. Upon listening to Rave Tapes I feel like they’ve recaptured what it was that made
them so essential in the first place.
It’s the strength without the need
for a bombastic climax on each song that highlights this. Instead Mogwai treat
each track as a continuation of the last in terms of layers, tempo and mood –
slowly building on the sinister thread that is sewn throughout. Heard About You Last Night is the
strongest start to a Mogwai album for me since 2003’s Happy Songs for Happy People. It’s a sumptuous, warm and very full
sounding track. Simon Ferocious is
very different and closer to the lead single, Remurdered, in sound in that it’s a synth-flecked acid trip of a
song: dreamy, with a hint of menace that comes to fruition on Remurdered. It increases the tempo
despite being so brilliantly restrained and is definitely a high point on the
album. The third of three great strides forward into something new.
Tracks like Hexon Bogon and Master Card
are what we’ve come to expect from Mogwai on their last couple of albums, but nestled
among the surrounding tracks they provide a sense of contrast without sounding
completely out of place. Textured, heavy guitar and bass riffs work towards an
apex with a sense of grandiloquence on tracks which show that Rave Tapes is not just one thing, not
just one sound, but many. The track that falls at the midway point, Repelish, features a vocal sample about
Satanic imagery in Led Zeppelin’s music. I don’t know how much it adds to the
track for me. It’s interesting enough, some discordance going on in the track
itself as the voice repeats “You’ve got to live for Satan” – a nod back, maybe,
to Mogwai Fear Satan? I’ve seen it
described as a masterstroke by some and a misstep by others. For me,
personally, it’s the weakest point on an extremely strong album.
Deesh again
highlights the sense of restraint that I just find so compelling about so much
of Rave Tapes. It’s textured, it
features a lot of the motifs we expect of a Mogwai song, but there’s also
something about how much more difficult and skilled it can be to hold back when
everyone expects you to just lash forward. It’s a shift – it’s showing that you
don’t have to be creating brash sonic walls of noise in order to be big. It
builds, but it builds slowly; there’s no racing to the finish. It seems that,
for the first time in a while, the journey is what matters. I saw a review
describing the track as ‘opulent’. I’m loath to use the words of others, but in
this case it makes perfect sense. Can something be opulent without luxury? Then
Blues Hour, a slow-burner, was my ‘holy
wow’ point. It’s evocative of the late nights I spent studying whilst listening
to Rock Action on repeat. It’s a
track you can let sink in slowly. Album closer The Lord is Out of Control is a fitting end as it brings us back full
circle by creating a similar soundscape to Heard
About You Last Night, synths blending with the guitar lines which glide
along with the distorted vocals.
Having plumbed the depths of their
ability, Mogwai have created a beautiful monster. This is the best thing
they’ve done in a long, long time. From the sounds of it, the band know it as
well. If you’ve been anticipating this album, then expect to be blown away.
This is music for the sake of their souls. Welcome back Mogwai.
Rave Tapes by Mogwai is out on Monday 20th
January via Rock Action.
LD
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