What would you do if you saw spaceships over Glasgow? Would you fear them?
Nothing more can synopsize Mogwai for me than those lyrics. It's almost unattainable what those fourteen words mean to me, a mystery of sorts. Just whenever I hear them I think to myself that Mogwai are perhaps turning themselves into a metaphor. Maybe they're the spaceships over Glasgow, breathing fire and devastating the town with their remarkably unique and effective grasp of understanding of what the public deems as living and pushes those barriers considered to be "alien".
Or maybe I'm just over-thinking it.
Mogwai's third album, "Rock Action", could be compared to a UFO. Mysterious, threatening, maybe even terrifying at times, but at the same time the sheer wonder and beauty you experience can't possibly be ignored, or perhaps even understood. In a statue-like state of omnipotence one minute, with the whirring mechanical configurations gently humming the rhythm of consent, then the next blowing up barns, eating people and abducting cows. Such is my understanding from TV.
Things don't exactly go over easy for this album. First off, as one pops it into the CD player they'll see it's running time. "38:31" does NOT qualify as a long album for most genres, and does not even qualify as a decent-length album for one such as post-rock. So, such as my skepticism got the hold of my thoughts, I misrepresented this album the first time I heard it. Too short, not enough going on, vocals on nearly every track, and so on. But after numerous listens, I got myself into the state of mind that should very well help you to listen to this album. It's quality over quantity on this album. Two songs (
OI Sleep and
Robot Chant, both somewhat useless save for tying the songs together) are around a minute long, yes, leaving six fully musical pieces to do the bidding of the formerly 10+ track band. But what remains amazing to me is the way that Mogwai transform six songs into an epic adventure of sound, a complete and utter brilliant journey through their musical comprehension and a bearer of many unforgettable moments.
Take Me Somewhere Nice, for example, is one of the darkest and most brooding moments on this album. Over melancholy, painfully slow and achingly poignant guitars churn strings, keys and, most notably, the completely moving (though seemingly deep and "unrhytmical", in a sense) vocal performance, which brings the song to a completely intellectually stimulating, wave-like song that washes over you and remains with you for quite a while.
One of the most impressive things about this album is the way that Mogwai can churn out seven-minute plus songs and never get boring, even in the most loose sense of the word.
Take Me Somewhere Nice,
You Don't Know Jesus and
2 Rights Make 1 Wrong are all on the longer side, yes, but keep your attention to the brink of complete and total concentration throughout each. While not surprising, each song has their own distinct sound.
Take Me Somewhere Nice is a slice of the band's darker side, slack with melancholy, and seems to stand still, though really is moving a pace that keeps the listener on complete and utter fatigue.
You Don't Know Jesus is the noise-rocker of the bunch, showcasing that Mogwai can still swarm you with their transluscent style of beauty even at ear-splitting levels and volumes.
2 Rights Make 1 Wrong, however, is clearly the best song on the album and one of Mogwai's proudest moments. Things are happier than usual, and over nine minutes we get introduced to a tremolo-drenched vocal recording, banjos, choirs and an epic burst of chaotic and brilliant noises clashing together to create a truly unforgettable experience. Every one of these songs are completely passionate works of art. Nothing short of incredible, every minute of it.
Elsewhere, Mogwai can keep our interest in short spurts that are enjoyable but alot less memorable and overall effective as the three aforementioned songs. The album opener,
Sine Wave, falls just short of five minutes and establishes the album's sound right off the bat, constantly building breathtaking and ambient music off of the most simplest of things - a constantly humming keyboard riff. Things, again, erupt in noise and the song fizzles out with grace, such as it came.
Dial: Revenge is somewhat dissapointing in my opinion, but still holds a strong ground throughout the significantly short time. Significant because I could easily see this as a longer song "epic", but Mogwai make it quite enjoyable in it's less-than-four-minute package, aschewing completely distinguishable instruments for a more vague sound. The finale,
Secret Pint, salutes the album off with a subtle dash of folk music, and as soon as the acoustic guitar, piano and low and moody vocals are over one can't help but think of the epics that the album has gone through, such is perhaps the purpose of the song.
All in all, however, this album is truly incredible in my opinion. There isn't a single sub-par moment on the album, save for my perhaps too instantanious judgements of
Dial: Revenge, but that is only a minor problem compared to some of the breathtaking music displayed here. Mogwai have done it again, and this album is highly recommended to fans of the genre, deep music or just general music fans who keep on finding themselves clicking on the "Alt/Indie" section. Deeply moving, dark and almost-shizophrenic sounding musicianship and songwriting and some of the most absolutely fatiguing listens you could hear. Highly recommended, and a modern classic.
