Mogwai - Every Country's Sun

Mogwai
Every Country's Son
2017
Spotify

Over the past ten years or so Mogwai's best work have come from the soundtracks. Last year's Atomic was a soundtrack for a documentary by the same name and their work in the field much like Explosions in the Sky has propelled the movies they are featured in to new heights. Their independent work however has not fared quite as well. Falling somewhere in the mid tempo electronic realm of meticulous rock they had hits but seemed to miss the mark more often than not. The songs without lyrics are infinitely better than those with, and I hate to say it but Mogwai just do not work with a singer. Their sound is to grand to expansive to be limited by a voice, you want to create your own experience with this music rather than have it dictated to you. That is why a song like "Crossing the Road Material" works so well, it paints the picture without telling you about it instead just letting the idea of the song slowly unfold over it's almost seven minutes. This is the spot where Mogwai are at their best, the post punk stuff and trying to force lyrics simply don't really work. However there is a real looseness on this album that has been absent from Mogwai. Their music is usually so meticulous and refined that it leaves little space for something organic to happen, but not on this record. "aka 47" is very direct, but it still feels like anything can happen, something new can spring up out of no where even when the gentle keyboard line drones on and on. It's the great intensity that Mogwai excel at, taking seemingly simple music and building it to this truly epic scale.

They almost succeed by keeping distance, pushing the listener away with these far off sounds and high minded ideas. Every Country's Son is not as evocative as Atomic either though it does have some special moments. There is a certain thumbing of one's nose in Mogwai's music, this sense that they really do not give a fuck what you think. This is why after 20 years they are still a band and still putting out records that matter. 'Don't Believe the Fife" has so much rage and aggression wrapped up in it, but it all comes from this really real place where as some music like this may feel kind of like a put on. You want that distorted guitar to strum away signalling something powerful, and you want it blast your speakers into oblivion because that's what Mogwai is all about. All that aggression is great for a while but when it comes for like four or five tracks in a row it can become a bit heavy and daunting. There is a lot to like about this record, and perhaps it is their best not tied to a movie in years, but it just seems like it is missing that one thing to really set it apart. As it is though it has brilliant moments packed into beautiful tight spaces, almost there and barely not.

7.9 out of 10