As The Love Continues - Mogwai: Review
Mogwai
are a veteran post-rock band out of Scotland who have been putting out numerous studio albums and soundtracks full of expansive instrumental rock music since the late 90's. With classic albums like Mogwai Young Team, Mr Beast and Come On Die Young in their catalog the band is worth paying attention to whenever they release new material. Despite being quite prolific in recent years this is their first proper studio album since 2017's Every Country's Sun.
Review By Lav:
I'm a big fan of Mogwai's classic, particularly their groundbreaking debut Mogwai Young Team as well as their modern post-rock classic, 2011's Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. While I haven't reviewed any of the bands non studio album material over the last few years I have definitely been paying attention to any of the soundtracks, compilations or live projects they release which all came together to make me excited for this project. While I wasn't head over heels for any of the records singles I do like them more within the context of the record, and as a whole I see much more clearly now what the band was going for this time around.
When the band simplifies things on this album it usually works out really well. Dry Fantasy was a solid single that I still quite enjoy with a shimmering, almost cinematic quality to it that I find appealing even in its most reserved moments. The sparkling keys and kick drums help keep the song from ever really feeling stale and maintaining an enjoyable experience. Ceiling Granny kicks off with some pop punk lead guitar that sounds like we're about to get a sweet Blink 182 song. The track is short, fun and incredibly in the moment making for a memorable highlight. I doubt that Mogwai knows the specific way to get directly to my heart is to include abstract spoken word vocal samples, but on Supposedly, We Were Nightmares they pull it off with great results. They back one of their brighter and generally more uplifting compositions with some difficult to make out but undeniably prevalent vocal samples that add a lot of fine detail to an already good song.
Pat Stains was released as the final single and is one of the better long form compositions on the record. It has a super tangible build that erupts into a sea of electric instrumentation before going on an even wilder journey in the explosive second half of the song. While it isn't particularly innovative the band does pull it all off with an excellent level of execution. Ritchie Sacramento was the other single leading up to the record and while I didn't love it at first I do see it a little differently within the context of the whole album. My original problem with the song was that it insists on maintaining a pretty much equal energy level throughout its runtime, but with its placement on the record it feels more deliberately designed to keep up the relaxed momentum. Even when its at its loudest or most instrumentally dense the whole mix has a blissful sensation surrounding it.
The opening track To The Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth is a steady, easy-going introduction that takes its time building up momentum from the records very first moments. Around the halfway point it kicks off with a loud but incredibly polite chorus of ascending guitars lines. While I wish it built a little more from that point on I think the song is still mostly pleasant on the ears. Similarly on the closing track It's What I Want To Do, Mum the band pulls off a sound that is agreeable, even enjoyable. The issue is that it doesn't feel grand enough or sound important enough to be the closing track to a 70 minute post-rock record of this caliber. Thankfully being the longest song on the record it never really feels boring and makes pretty solid use of its runtime.
Here We, Here We, Here We Go Forever kicks off with some sequenced beats and what sounds like vocals that are heavily manipulated to just sound like electronic rambling. This stands in stark contrast to the songs more jovial guitars and familiar keys. While the combination is interesting at first I wish the song did more with it to maintain that interest during the runtime. Midnight Flit is pretty obviously building to something across its first three minutes but it takes quite a while to actually feel any of that momentum developing. While the song is grander at its peak the fact that it adheres so closely to the exact same compositional elements feels like a limiting factor in how far it can go. Despite these issues there are some really cool individual pieces of instrumentation caught up in the mix that make the song interesting in the moment.
Drive The Nail is my least favorite of the records longer songs. Despite having a compelling first crescendo the song shows all of its cards early and while I like the blistering authentic rock instrumentation it certainly doesn't hold up for anywhere near 7 minutes. Fuck Off Money is the weakest song here that spends way too much time going absolutely nowhere instrumentally while these uninspired robotic vocals sort of try and harmonize over it. Even when the instrumentation erupts out of nowhere it's really quiet and distant making it super low impact.
As The Love Continues has its moments but its lengthy and flawed. For any veteran post-rock fans these compositions are going to be very familiar but normally pretty rewarding, what Mogwai is lacking in innovation they are more than making up for in execution. In fact it's even on some of the shorter tracks here that the band feels their most youthful and energetic, making for some of the records most unpredictable moments. While this isn't rewriting the book on post-rock in 2021 there is certainly reasons for fans of the genre and the band itself to give the record an honest shot. 6/10
Album Cover Review By Tyler Judson:
