Reviewed by Ian Phillips.
By Mogwai, Rock Action Records 2020.
Mogwai are a Scottish rock band that have been around since 1995 and over that time they have developed a loyal following for their indie/alternative rock soundscapes.
This album captures the band live and proves just how talented they are as they reproduce some of their more creative studio pieces in a concert setting.
The dozen tracks on the album are extended instrumentals that are beautifully crafted and are utterly mesmerising.
Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synths, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass) and Martin Bulloch (drums) have tremendous chemistry after years of performing together.
They weave complex passages together with the confidence that can only come from experience.
The tracks on this disc have been lifted from live performances recorded at venues all over Britain, and possibly further afield because the band has toured our shores.
The quality of the recordings are exceptional, it’s amazing how they have been able to develop such a large and all-encompassing sound in a live setting.
Mogwai are quite unusual in that there are very few bands doing what they’re doing.
In a way they are throw-backs to an earlier, more experimental, time when bands were regularly exploring longer and more organic music forms.
Think the early Pink Floyd stuff, particularly when Sid Barrett was still a band member, or even bands like Iron Butterfly (although they were working strictly within a blues framework where Mogwai are much more experimental and far from blues orientated).
It takes guts and skill to put together a concert like this and Mogwai have both in abundance.
It’s hard to pick a favourite track because they all build one upon the other to create a total that is bigger than the sum of the individual parts.
Having said this, I must mention a few; I’m Jim Morrison, I’m dead is an intriguing song title and great track, Every Country’s Sun starts softly and slowly and gradually builds to an impressive crescendo and Old Poisons is an aural assault from start to ear shattering feedback finish.
