Mogwai’s legacy continues with their latest album ‘As The Love Continues.’ The record is a euphoric, experimental journey of genre-bending music from start to finish, screaming out to be played at an open-air festival.
Glasgow based band Mogwai have been showcasing their mix of lyric-less, guitar-based instrumental music since 1995 and have enjoyed various chart successes. Their 2001 album ‘Rock Action’ gave them their highest UK album chart placing, and ‘Happy Songs For Happy People’ spent a week on the Billboard 200 chart in 2003.
Fast forward to 2020, and Mogwai have been extremely busy. Their original soundtrack album ‘ZeroZeroZero’ was released, to accompany an Italian crime drama television series. 50% of the revenue from the first week of sales was donated to various charities, which included Help Musicians. The band also began working on their 2021 album release, ’As The Love Continues’.
They managed to defy the restrictions and difficulties placed on them by being apart due to the pandemic, and worked on the album remotely. The most interesting part of this story is also a testament to the creativity of musicians during this pandemic. The string section for ‘Midnight Flit’ was recorded with Atticus Ross in Los Angeles, who was directing an orchestra in Budapest.
The album begins with ‘To the Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth’ – a great dramatic opener that announces the arrival of the album and the journey the listener is about to take. The lulling instrumentals open the track, encouraging the listener to ‘vacate’ oneself and to open themselves up to the music. It ends with glorious heavy crashing guitars and drums.
It then leads into ‘Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever,’ ‘Dry Fantasy’ and ‘Ritchie Sacramento’ where Mogwai begins their electronic experimentation with pockets of distorted instrumentals. ‘Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever’ and its repetitive beeps illustrate the robotic technology-fuelled nature of life, and the track lifts and crashes in a cyclical fashion with the use of blurry distorted lyrics.
‘Ritchie Sacramento’ has a strong indie rock feel, where we encounter discernible lyrics for the first time on the album. Stuart Braithwaite describes the track as a dedication to all of Mogwai’s musician friends lost over the years. The level of grief felt due to the loss is amplified through the use of lyricism:
‘My oldest friend that I barely knew / So much fun hanging around in the dark / You stop time / Managed to somehow find a way out of here / Dagger in everyone’s heart’
‘Drive The Nail’ brings us to the same guitar-heavy space as ‘Ritchie Sacramento’ but with more force, as the title so adequately suggests. It is a great divider in the middle of the album which echoes the opening track. It leads us into various styles of rock featured in the second half of the album. ‘Midnight Flit’ is certainly the highlight of the release, and it is a testament to the high level of musicality the band produces. The strings coupled with guitars create a sense of sheer harmonious beauty, and an impactful musical experience.
‘Pat Stains’ carries on the swelling and crashing euphoria from ‘Midnight Flit’ into ‘Supposedly, We Were Nightmares’ which brings in a more electronic tone to close the album. It is almost reminiscent of coming to the end of a video game, and reaching the final chapters.
The album’s closing track ‘It’s What I Want to Do, Mum,’ feels like an ode to Mogwai’s journey. This is also conveyed through the album launch date being on the 25th anniversary of their first single, ‘Tuner/Lower.’ The track is seven minutes of euphoric guitar-led highs and soft bass lows, which takes the listener through Mogwai’s journey as a band.
‘As The Love Continues’ takes you out of the comfort zone of listening to music with lyrics, pushing yourself to discover feeling and understanding purely through instrumentals. This is obviously something that Mogwai uniquely knows how to navigate and produce. Their music is fearless in its execution and mix of genres. As a figure in the music industry, Mogwai are in their own lane entirely.
