(1/24/25) Mogwai - The Bad Fire

The arrival of a new Mogwai album – their eleventh – is
cause for great celebration. The album’s title, The Bad Fire,
is a working-class Glaswegian term for Hell. It reflects the
difficult time that members of the band were going through.
New to the studio was American producer John Congleton,
known for his work with Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Rós,
John Grant and pretty much everyone in between.
Congleton’s work can be heard on the album’s three singles.
The album opener “God Gets You Back” sounds like Daft
Punk being hunted by My Bloody Valentine, while
“Fanzine Made Of Flesh” sounds like a victory parade for a
baby yeti; and “Lion Rumpus” does actually sound like a lion
rumpus.
The music of Mogwai is a difficult thing to describe, but an
easy thing to experience. At punishing volume, it can
annihilate your body, leaving you as little more than a head
which should by rights fall helplessly to the ground. Yet the
music contains an updraft, a sense of beauty encased in the
onslaught. This holds you up, suspended and empowered,
reminding you that paradise is your birthright. This is
especially true of The Bad Fire. It may have been created in
dark conditions, but all that is transcended by the act of four
musicians working together here, now, in the moment – the
only place where Mogwai exist.
Retail Exclusive: Clear Colored Vinyl (TRR442LP-C2;