Mogwai’s music has always been about the journey, whether that’s from quiet reflection to loud and explosive or from sorrow to euphoria. They’ve also always been cinematic, tending to emphasise texture over traditional song structures, so it’s unsurprising to see them take on the challenge of scoring a film.
Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise is of course not the first time the Glasgow band have done this, having soundtracked a French TV drama and a documentary about footballer Zinedine Zidane. This might be the first cinematic accompaniment they’ve written that also works as a standalone album, though.
Without contextual knowledge you might never guess the album’s purpose, such is Mogwai’s affinity for crafting tracks around narratives. Still, ‘Atomic’ presents these momentous shifts in a rigid and even predictable manner, something that we’re not used to hearing from the band.
With the exception of Are You a Dancer?, gone are the lumbering crescendos. Instead, we’re treated to imposing synths, searing drones and minimalist drum patterns.
At points this feels ponderous (Weak Force) but generally it makes for a hypnotic brew, distilling moments into tangible emotions. Despite being less dynamics-based, every note on ‘Atomic’ feels like it has been agonised over, something that was missing from Mogwai’s recent projects.
Without watching the corresponding documentary you can still work out how each part fits. Representing the far-reaching consequences of atomic power, Mogwai give us different perspectives depending on the respective eras or innovations being discussed.
For example, Ether is misleadingly happy, viewing its initial discovery as wondrous and opening the album with an ascending synth lead. SCRAM, which follows, even recalls the childlike innocence of countrymen Boards of Canada as its colossal beats and rumbling bass collide with sparkling melodies.
It’s not until the menacing syncopated electronica of U-235 that they explore the horrific potential of nuclear developments, before going onto to evoke the consequences on Pripyat, which refers to the abandoned city close to the Chernobyl nuclear plant.
This album may surprise long-time fans for entirely new reasons. The presence of analogue synths at the expense of guitars is nothing new, they experimented with them on ‘Rave Tapes’, most notably, but they’re now used as the principal vehicles for conveying emotion.
More than that, though, they tell stories by themselves. ‘Atomic’ is the band’s coldest and most futuristic sounding record, yet it also tackles concepts more vividly than anything they’ve released in the past decade. It lacks the thrills of their build-up based material, but that doesn’t seem to matter here, whether you watch the accompanying film or not.
Mogwai Upcoming Tour Dates are as follows:
Sat August 27 2016 - EDINBURGH Playhouse
Sun August 28 2016 - EDINBURGH Playhouse
Wed September 14 2016 - COVENTRY Cathedral
Thu September 15 2016 - LONDON Barbican Centre
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