Mogwai Rock Action Album 22
Nichelle Gruger
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.
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 3\xBD-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.
From the opening static surge of 'Sine Wave' to the majestic closer 'Secret Pint,' Rock Action is Mogwai at its best. For this 2001 album, the Scottish post-rock band reigns in much of the bombast of earlier recordings, opting for melody and texture over all else. Guitarist Stuart Braithwaite contributes more vocals than ever before, though they're often hushed or heavily treated, and Super Furry Animals frontman Gruff Rhys lends his voice to the haunting 'Dial: Revenge.'
Yet another post rock group, taking inspiration on the groundbreaking Tortoise andConstellation label GYBE! and DMST, Mogwai is just content on this release to follow suitin a poker game and not bring anything new or daring. Rather oddly though, there aresung songs in a rather off-voice that never seem to rise to the occasion of upping theante for superior interest of the game. There are moments that are on the brink ofecstasy such as the fifth track You Don't Know Jesus (nothing that GYBE! has notachieved a few years before, though) and the tension is maintained for a few minutesto almost unbearable levels, but alas orgasm do not come. Vocals in the form ofNirvana's Cobain screams of despair or Water's yells in Careful With That Axe,would've achieved that poker hand they should've dared for!!! A huge opportunitywasted. The added banjo on the second last track is worthy of note and worth a smirktoo!Most likely by the end of the night and by not taking any risks, Mogwai will certainlynot come up on the losing end of the scale, but they will not astound or blind you withtheir rather pale brilliance. Interesting but simply getting lost in the mass of post-rockalbums. Certainly worth a spin if you enjoy post-rock but not a royal flush or even a fullhouse! social review comments Review Permalink
Posted Wednesday, December 14, 2005 Review this album Report (Review #60297)
Well, first of all, Mogwai is one of the mostdepressing bands I've ever heard, and I mean it too. The atmospheres and textures aresimply so somber and dark, that at times they even challenge Univers Zero.Fortunately for me, I'm rather mentally sane, so this album doesn't affect me toomuch. For those wanting to get more familiar with this genre, Mogwai is a goodchoice, as they mostly concentrate on shorter, structurally pretty simple,melody-based tracks, and yet they often manage to have the same "epic" feel thatbands like GY!BE are so well known for. The second track Take Me SomewhereNice is a brilliant example of that. It starts with a slow, dark, but still verycatchy guitar riff, but before too long other instruments enter the track as well.The riff is actually repeated over and over again during the song, but it's thegloomy keyboards and the amazing string arrangements that really carry this songforward. There's just so much depth in there, that I usually end up in a hypnoticstate. Especially in this song, there's a strong resemblance to movie soundtrackmusic. At this point, things were looking rather good. However, while I stillthoroughly enjoy Dial: Revenge, it's You Don't Know Jesus where thingsstart to go wrong. This instrumental track is actually not half bad at first, but itcarries one of the fundamental flaws of this genre - it's way too long. It's also such atypical post-rock track, trying to build up a huge climax, but it's just sopredictable that it quite frankly annoys me. It gets old pretty fast. The vocals onthis album are mostly fine, but a bit too melodramatic for my taste... RockAction is in a way a perfect example of the genre. It manages to combine all thegood and not-so-good things about post-rock. It is by all means emotionally moving,very atmospheric, mostly quite intense experience, and yet at the same time, toopredictable and just a tiny bit self-indulgent. All things considered, this ispretty good stuff, nothing exceptional, but fans of the genre will be pleased. Ifyou're not a fan (yet?), you're probably better off starting with Happy Songs ForHappy People. social review comments Review Permalink
Posted Wednesday, April 5, 2006 Review this album Report (Review #74182)
Mogwai sometimes is mentioned as post-rock one of greatest band's, I can't understandwhy. They really have their own niche between other post-rock bands, with more melodic,more mellow and warmer sound, but the difference is not so big to see them in front of allgenre. There on this album they are adding some vocals to their mostly instrumental music,what makes the music a bit more different. Possibly, they stepped far from post-rock standardthere, but the destination is Brit-pop, so the question is how good is this trend. In all, some positive side of this work is it is a bit different from usual post-rock album.But this difference is far not enough to make it great album. Should be attractive for genre fansthough. social review comments Review Permalink
Posted Sunday, February 14, 2010 Review this album Report (Review #266160)
The first big issue I have with the album is actually the vocals, not the vocalist, who sounds fine, but the existence ofthe vocals themselves. I find that it does cause the songs to sound more dull and less expressive, which while partsof the album have some wonderfully intense backing instrumentals, the majority of the attention is drawn towardsthe quiet, monotone, dreary vocals, removing a lot of the emotional power that good post rock contains, insteadmaking it sound more like an indie rock track. Another problem is the fact that some of these songs really don't doenough, taking the sound of the crescendo based post rock bands without actually crescendoing, leading to somenoticeable blandness in certain tracks, especially the 9 minute Two Rights Make One Wrong. One final issue,although a less egregious one is the interludes, which both add very little to the album, but don't detract too mucheither. Despite these complaints, there are definitely still some positives to this album. For one, it can really capture amood, as this album manages to be really depressing in ways that don't feel overdramatic or false, everything heredoes manage to convey a feeling of emptiness quite well, it's just that the music can sometimes suffer because ofthis. Despite the album being filled with tracks that other than general tone, I really don';t care about, the first2proper songs are exceptional, and the 3rd is interesting in a particular way. Sine Wave shows a lot of promise,nicely balancing some electronic elements with a gradual increase in intensity, making for a standard, yet no lessawesome post rock track that hits all the right notes for me. Take Me Somewhere Nice is however undoubtedly thehighlight of this album for me, being deeply melancholic, each note hitting hard emotionally as it slowly flowsthrough its 7 minute run time, being utterly beautiful the entire way through. Dial : Revenge, while not necessarily asong I enjoy all that much, is interesting for how close to a Damon Albarn song it sounds, with the vocals soundingincredibly similar, albeit in another language. Overall, I feel quite disappointed in this album, finding it to lack many of the qualities in which I find to make postrock great, while adding nothing particularly special to the mix, leading to a mostly safe album that doesn't quite hitmany mark. I'm going to check the previous 2 albums by the band to see if anything is different with those, as thereare some hints of greatness mixed amongst the boredom, but it's jst not quite enough for me to enjoy this albumonce those first 2 great tracks have finished. Overall, I'd recommend many post rock albums before touching thisone, such as the first 2 GY!BE albums, Agaetis Byrjun by Sigur Ros, and even some Magyar Posse for a very similarsound in certain respects, while also reaching much greater heights. Best songs: Sine Wave, Take Me Somewhere Nice Weakest songs: Secret Pint, You Don'T Know Jesus, Two Rights Make One Wrong Verdict: I just find the majority of this album very bland and uninventive, but also do admit that they are excellent atcapturing a particular mood, it's just a shame that they don't explore that more, and meander quite a lot. social review comments Review Permalink
Posted Tuesday, March 26, 2019 Review this album Report (Review #2168837)