Every Country's Sun

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

英国ポスト・ロックのドンが盟友デイヴ・フリッドマン(マーキュリー・レヴ)と16年ぶりにタッグを組んだ、要注目のニュー・アルバムだ! バンドの代名詞とも言える静寂からの鋭利なノイズで緊張状態を作り出し、その直後に物凄い恍惚感が訪れる! 嗚呼、カタルシス! なかでも美しいメロディーや破壊的なギター・リフが際立っていて、古参のファンなら涙と震えが止まらなくなるはず! こういう音を待ってたよ!
bounce (C)柴田かずえ