Mogwai - 'Happy Songs For Happy People' (PIAS)
3/5
By: Toby L
They've got a point, then. Comparatively, following years of strenuous, eerie, trouser-soiling blends between the musically macabre, the sombre, and the beguilingly uplifting, Highland-flingers Mogwai have stumbled across their definitive work of (relative) rampant merriment: the band's indulgent, fourth album to date, 'Happy Songs For Happy People'.
The title should be enough of a marker. But, as mentioned - this is 'happy' in purely a comparative perspective to anything that Stuart Braithwaite's largely instrumental, post-rockin' quintet have produced to date.
Less of the menacing, a touch more of the folk-like magical, arrangements of the 40-minute head-trip cascade between the inconspicuous and the quiet-loud-quiet build-ups that have seen them hijack a frighteningly significant number of hardcore devotees over the years. And, resultantly, it makes for a desirable collection.
Whether shifting, in-between mood-states (the opening 'Hunted By A Freak', or abrupt 'Moses? I Amn't'), or the mildly more engrossing, fearful and desperate (a chaotic 'Ratts Of The Capital'), there's always a down-side to an up, or vice versa, and the classical-esque quality of the package rises tenfold with the thoughtful inclusion of lilting pianos ('I Know You Are But What Am I?') and shady patches of strings within the mix throughout.
Most compelling are the sheer moments of isolation - a near-tearful 'Golden Porsche', or Bjork-esque, interwoven electronica of the aforementioned 'I Know You Are...' - whilst the titles themselves provide private amusement, if only for their rivalling of Radiohead in the 'pretension' stakes ('Kids Will Be Skeletons' or 'Borings Machines Disturbs Sleep', anyone?).
Though nine times out of ten unlikely to convince those already suspicious of the authenticity of the genre to become an instant convert, Mogwai continue their quest to reinvent the already-not-so-conventional 'avant-garde' with admirable, occasionally captivating, aplomb.
Artists in this article: Mogwai
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