Performer Notes

Mogwai rang in their 22nd year of existence with Every Country's Sun, their first non-soundtrack album since 2014's Rave Tapes and their first without founding guitarist John Cummings. Despite the lineup change, there are no drastic differences to the band's approach, and they spend most of the album expressing the extremes of their minimalism and maximalism. They bookend the set with songs that are quintessentially Mogwai: the slow-burning opener, "Coolverine," begins with shimmering keyboards and warm bass before layers of guitar, synths, and brass take the track to the saturation point, while the deep drones and explosive guitars of "Every Country's Sun" close the album with a blaze of cathartic glory. In between, Mogwai offer cerebral pleasures like the aptly named "Brain Sweeties," a sonic sculpture that sets a circular guitar motif spinning above perpetually tumbling drums and gently arcing synths, and "aka 47," a strangely shifting mood piece for analog synth and pedal steel that reaffirms why the band's film scores are so compelling. Elsewhere, they provide more visceral satisfaction with "Party in the Dark"'s fizzy alt-rock and the seething guitar workout "Battered at a Scramble"; it's no coincidence that this track is reminiscent of Rock Action, an album that also featured Every Country's Sun producer Dave Fridmann. Just as Mogwai maintain the tension of most of these songs for as long as possible, they also save the album's biggest climaxes for last, as on the furious "Old Poisons." ~ Heather Phares

Professional Reviews

Magnet - "EVERY COUNTRY'S SUN demonstrates that the reported softening of Mogwai's sound hasn't curtailed the adventure crammed into first single 'Coolverine,' which deconstructs and grows an austere, ascending punk riff over shape-shifting drums."

Mojo (Publisher) - "Coolverine opens proceedings at a glide, as a burbling synth is soon deftly woven upon with chiming arpeggiated guitars, deep-bass anxiety, further keyboard textures and a mangled non-beat of textbook post-rock avoid-the-obviousness."

Paste (magazine) - "Their synth-drenched sound and soaring set-ups make for an unusual combination, one that delivers alluring, if occasionally elusive, melodies and rich atmospheric textures. It's psych rendered in an unusually accessible and articulate way."

Pitchfork (Website) - "Mogwai find their center of gravity. Finally, these Glaswegians are having fun again, loosening up and dirtying up, but with purpose and fire."

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