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11. Mogwai “Rock Action” (Album - (Southpaw) )
Mogwai have grown up. Since the release of their previous 2 albums, “Young team” and “Come on Die Young” there’s been a change. The progression from their musical adolescence hasn’t shocked them enough into incorporating any appropriate “old” related words into their title of their new album but it’s certainly managed to mellow them out. As has the fact that within the 2 years since their last album many other bands have followed suit and are making music all too similar to their groundbreaking style of 99. So, time to move on and as Stuart Braithwaite of the band explained “We’ve brought on the banjos, the violins, the trombones and I did some singing. But he also managed to drop in “There’s still some noise though” – and there is, just not noise to the same degree.

Having said that, just for old times sake, Rock Action does open with an irritatingly incoherent kind of fuzzy feedback with “Sine Wave” but then reassuringly simmers down into the following track “Take Me Somewhere Nice”. And, as an epic cacophony of powerful yet dainty musical imagery, it manages to do just that. The remainder of the album, half songs, half instrumentals, keeps the turbulence and the graceful/raucous juxtapositions to a comparative minimum.
All the energy and feeling is there however and having recorded the majority of the album in New York in the space of just six weeks and with significant input from new band member “Barry Burns” and producer Dave Fridmann ( who, as well as working on their last album “Come On Die Young” has also worked with The Flaming Lips and Mercury Rev), this album demonstrates admirably how their songwriting talent has developed.


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