Scottish post rock giants Mogwai headlined the fifth day of Glasgow’s annual Celtic Connections festival at the city’s Centre for Contemporary Arts on the day their new album Rave Tapes was released. Five songs from the new album were played amongst some older favourites.
A lot mellower than previous albums with prominent use of synths and keys, Rave Tapes’ cinematic style has most likely been influenced by the band’s recent soundtrack for TV series Les Revenants, its ominous instrumentals perfectly accompanying visuals of reanimated dead people in a small French mountain town. The band also gigged their moody soundtrack to the 2006 documentary Zidane, a 21st Century Portrait in the run up to recording Rave Tapes.
However band member Stuart Braithwaite joked that its minimalist vibe may have been due to a “wee bit of tardiness on our part”. He also noted, “we were listening to an awful lot of horror film soundtracks – Goblin, Fabio Frizzi, John Carpenter, Morricone’s theme to The Exorcist II….”
After a quick introduction from presenter Vic Galloway, the hoopla of the crowd was abruptly silenced by “Heard About You Last Night” and its opening chimes. Eerie and uncertain, it was like slipping into a dream of mysterious, foggy woodland and winding graveyard paths. Part of the beauty of their music is how it evokes different visions and emotions for different people. For five minutes my mind drifted elsewhere, and when the music stopped the magical spell broke and I became aware of my vacant expression and the trail of drool from the corner of my mouth.
For some of the heavy metallers amongst Mogwai’s cult fan base Rave Tapes might be a bit soft, although they played some choice cuts from past albums that would’ve satisfied their needs – namely the fuzzy, rotating riff of “Rano Pano” and later on “Batcat” from 2008’s The Hawk Is Howling, with three of the five members hammering on lead guitar to produce the aural equivalent of an evil scheme.
Life affirming highlight of the set “How to be a Werewolf” served as a perfect illustration of Mogwai’s ability to tell a story of beauty and spirit through the language of guitar fuzz. Like most of their songs, instrumentals such as this don’t rely on lyrics to set the tone; the fact that Mogwai can do without will always be much revered.
A glow stick adorned techno fan may purchase Rave Tapes solely based on the type of music its title suggests and be slightly bemused by most of the ten tracks. “Remurdered” is an exception and is pretty danceable, albeit in an awkward, daunting kind of way, as shown by some of the audience. The band mixed 12-stringed guitar, drum machines and busy synthesisers to sound like a post rock Soft Cell playing Space Invaders.
“The Lord Is out of Control” was a counterpoint to this, with gentler synthesisers and vocoder work reminiscent of 2003’s Happy Songs for Happy People. “That’s the last song from our new record Rave Tapes that is out today. Shameless plug over,” Braithwaite adds afterwards.
The live premier of “Simon Ferocious” and a beautiful version of “Helicon 1” end their set. The latter is eight minutes of distilled beauty; it could soundtrack someone’s inner joy at unlocking the meaning of life. The band departed amid great cheers from the crowd, off to begin a short UK tour in support of the new album. Hopefully the announcement of some Australian dates is not too far away, having not played down under since November 2011 in support of Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will.
A week after the Glasgow gig Rave Tapes becomes their first ever release to hit the top ten in the UK album charts, evidence that as the band’s music takes giant strides, their fan base continues to expand. In nearly 20 years as a band Mogwai have never had overwhelming commercial success, but their consistent critical appreciation is unparalleled.
Seventeen years ago a Norwegian journalist wrote of Mogwai’s music, “if the stars had a sound it would sound like this”. Many would not object. They are five virtuosos who channel something divine for us other humanoids to marvel at.
The 2014 Celtic Connections festival is currently celebrating its 21st year with an eclectic programme that is the biggest and most ambitious yet and includes some of the best-known musicians in traditional and roots music, world, indie, jazz, folk, soul and Americana. Over 2000 musicians from every corner of the globe will be in Glasgow between January 16 and February 2.
