Mogwai
Rock Action
[Matador]
Rating: 8.0
There are a few things in this world I'm pretty sure of. One of them is that,
in a "Survivor"-like desert island competition between Mogwai and fellow
crescendo-rockers Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Mogwai would be taking home
the grand prize. While Godspeed's Efrim Menuck would spend his time trying
desperately to craft cigarettes out of coconut shells, picking bugs out of
his beard, and figuring out a way to fabricate cellophane in which to bury
the dead, Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite would be busy sabotaging the enemy
camp, starting bonfires, and dancing naked under the light of the moon.
Alright, so maybe I'm exaggerating. But it can't be denied that of all the
bands making epic, apocalyptic rock music these days, Mogwai seem to be the
only ones who can sit back at the end of the day and have a good laugh. Sure,
their music can be extremely serious and deeply affecting, but there's an
element of adventurousness and willingness to fuck with your expectations
that makes Mogwai less dire than their competitors.
This adventurousness is evidenced by the fact that Mogwai managed to craft
a brilliant debut-- 1997's Young Team-- that achieved the sainted goal
of balancing fragile beauty and overwhelming sonic terror. Young Team
allowed Mogwai to perfectly encapsulate the essence of their namesake-- those
crazy little critters from the movie Gremlins. I still remember the
song of the Mogwai; it's a simple, beautiful melody sung in freakish la-la's,
yet signifies imminent destruction and face-rippage. Such was the case with
Young Team-- a beautifully orchestrated melodic passage could
successfully lull you into submission. You pet it. You kiss it. You feed it
after midnight... and boom! Layered feedback, crashing cymbals, vacuum
cleaner noises, claws, teeth, and wanton destruction.
Sadly, the follow-up to Young Team, 1999's Come On Die Young,
replaced the aural explosions of the debut with gradual burnouts. Songs that
could potentially have been made great seemed to go absolutely nowhere,
resulting in an album full of wasted promise-- a better soundtrack to an
afternoon nap than a terrifyingly beautiful explosion.
So what did the boys in Mogwai do? Did they go home and whine to their mamas?
Of course not. Mogwai isn't a band of words, they're a band of action-- in
this case, Rock Action. As of late, the music press has been falling
all over itself to point out that-- get this-- Rock Action is not
actually full of action, nor does it rock. And while, yes, the album is, for
the most part, a very deliberate, moderately paced album, it manages much
like Young Team to pack a stellar amount of energy into a medium-tempo
rock song.
Which is not to say that Rock Action is a carbon copy of Young
Team. Far from it, in fact. Perhaps the greatest difference between
this record and its predecessors is the expanded range of sounds incorporated.
In the past, Mogwai have been largely guitar-driven, relying on plucked
melodies coupled with soaring feedback crescendos to create their trademark
sound. Here, such diverse elements as banjos, patterned static, and the Welsh
(singer Gruff Rhys from Super Furry Animals) are incorporated, making Rock
Action the most sonically dense release of Mogwai's career thus far.
This more complex sound has its ups and its downs. On the positive side, it
makes Rock Action a really fun album to pick apart. Dave Fridmann's
production is flawless, affording each instrument just the right mix of
distinction and ambiguity to create an engaging, yet cohesive whole.
Unfortunately, this expanded repertoire comes at a cost. One could say that
Rock Action is more focused on sound and less so on melody and
structure than the classic Young Team. As a result, the epic "You
Don't Know Jesus," the album's standout track, never attains the level of
jaw-dropping perfection that Young Team's "Like Herod" or "Mogwai
Fear Satan" laid claim to.
Still, Rock Action certainly has its peak moments. Aside from "You
Don't Know Jesus," two shorter tracks-- the opening "Dial: Revenge" and
"Secret Pint"-- perfectly showcase the strengths of Mogwai's new direction.
The former, which features the talents of the aforementioned Gruff, puts
vocals to better effect than the band's previous singing excursions, creating
a stunningly gorgeous orchestral rock track that seems to extend far beyond
its 3½-minute duration. The latter, the album's closer, puts to work sparse
piano, huge-sounding drums, and mumbled vocals, giving a beautiful ending to
a similarly beautiful record.
Despite the changes the band has been through on the road from Young Team
to Rock Action, there are enough unifying elements to conclude that
those of you who seriously dug the band's earlier work will find a lot to
like about the record. Granted, it's not mind-blowing, and it's not nearly
as masterfully executed and affecting as their earliest work. But there are
only a handful of bands out there that can put out an album as well-constructed
as Rock Action and still expect people to bitch and moan about it. The
fact that Mogwai can laugh at their detractors could either lead to the band
pursuing brave new directions in rock, or traveling down a path of smug
self-satisfaction and stagnation. Either way, Rock Action suggests
that it'll be worth sticking around to find out.
-Matt LeMay