|
|||||
| basement tapes | concert reviews | cd reviews | interviews | ticket swap | music news |
 |
 |
 |
|
Story and photos by Matt Schwenke As a slight departure from their earlier work, which reaches incredible guitar-braced depths and effect-laden isolation, Mogwai's latest release, The Hawk Is Howling, finds the Glasgow post-rock outfit in a somewhat daringly open and almost upbeat persona.Taking the stage after Canadian rockers Women, Mogwai opened up in a surprisingly energetic demeanor "The Precipice," in which guitarist Stuart Braithwaite began by playfully striking the neck of his guitar with a drum stick to induce a tone. As the song built to its looking over the ledge climax, the near-psychadelic sounds of "Hunted By A Freak," with Barry Burns leading the wash of sound on keys and vox, could have been the jump off of or the rush away from the ledge. "You Don't Know Jesus" was a whirlwind of guitars that faded slowly into the keyboard-driven "I Know You Are But What Am I?" with drummer Martin Bulloch adding the percolating rhythm. Bassist Dominic Aitchison commanded a deep tone on bass in "I Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School" before guitarist John Cummings and Braithwaite joined in with eerie effect and helped push the song to its disturbingly dissonant ending. Pushing some serious sound pressure levels in the venue was the classic "Ithica 27o9," in which the relatively short song peaks in extraordinary fashion and wraps the listener in a blanket of sound. Some reprieve would follow in the somewhat hazy "Summer," but only briefly, as the dynamics of the song shift quickly and almost without warning into a clearly blistering display. "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead" laid out a long complex shift in dynamics, for as loud as the band can get they can be equally soft, and "Friend of the Night" seemed to hover around a mid level of shortened peaks and valleys, with keys being the centerpiece that held song up when quiet and anchored the guitars from taking off when loud. "Autorock" drew the listener in quickly with its gentle ascending keys and blips before and guitar distortion hurled the song into a defiant march. "2 Rights Make 1 Wrong" brought back the eerie vox and a bouncy beat that, while peaking at one point, displayed the band's talent in quieter moments, but in all of their glorious noise and power, "Batcat" would end Mogwai's set by shaking the audience with its extremely heavy sounds. After a near career-spanning display, the ghostly and distant "Helicon 1" started the encore in almost reflective tone and ended with mere whispers coming from guitar, while the night-ending "We're No Here" served as a devious goodbye as guitar effects swirled around simple strumming before the band unleashed their crushing wave of sound. As the band began leaving the stage, Braithwaite and Cummings remained, hovering over their pedals and effects boards and manipulating the remaining sounds into an automated and impressive mess of noise fitting for their departure. When the sounds finally stopped after the stage had been empty for minutes, the physical waves of sound Mogwai had created throughout the night still echoed in the body, like the feeling that remains after being hit by ocean waves for hours and then laying on the beach-- you still feel the waves moving. |
| Turner Hall 5/09/09 setlist: | |
|
The Precipice Hunted by a Freak You Don't Know Jesus I Know You Are But What Am I? I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School Ithica 27o9 Summer |
I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead Friend of the Night Autorock 2 Rights Make 1 Wrong Batcat encore: Helicon 1 We're No Here |
 |
 |
 |
 |