Mogwai – The Bad Fire Review

There was no way for Mogwai to know just how pertinent, yet plain, their album title would be. The Bad Fire releases at a time when California is still burning, when greats like David Lynch are lost because of its effect, and yet a blindness still remains. The Bad Fire has nothing to do with that yet everything around it, too. Mogwai has made an accidental, formidable showcase of problems which, while not in the UK just yet, are certainly, possibly, on their way. Climate horrors aside, their recent collection of post-rock noise is a welcome continuation of their long-running consistencies. Vicious, powerful stuff from a band that has so often had their fingers on the cultural pulse. We should expect nothing less than a vibrant punch from Mogwai on this one. Instrumental brilliance through and through, the sort of noise and motion you get from firm musical hands.  

Instrumental bliss is the mainstay of The Bad Fire, an album which has such a foreboding sense in those early moments. Hi Chaos continues it, the charming noise rock-like momentum carried by Mogwai is relentless and truly special. A triple bill of exceptional instrumentals is followed up by Fanzine Made of Flesh, a track which may as well continue the trend of vocal-free songs given how deep into the mix it is. Stuart Braithwaite slips his voice into the instrumental fury and it works well in its barely audible tone. Just enough of a push for those lyrics to come clear, buried deep enough for the message to come through. But the strengths of The Bad Fire are in its instrumentals and it is fair for Braithwaite to slip behind this developing line of sound. Pale Vegan Hip Pain and follow up If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others are testament to this.  

As fine and honest a blur as The Bad Fire is, hearing it hold this momentum, continuing to push the instrumental sensations, is staggering. Their tonal shift from opener God Gets You Back to the lighter, piano-led charms of an optimistic Hammer Room is tremendous. Mogwai sees a route through, a pattern to their sound which is tricky to nail down – and yet there it is. Wonderful space-rock tones on penultimate track Lion Rumpus feel for a wave of familiarity but in there, like all great songs found on The Bad Fire (of which there is plenty), comes a new layer, a fresh suggestion of what is to come and what can become in the right hands. Mogwai is a roaring success of a track, a piece which burns with the heavy weight of creativity and in it finds most of its emotive, best efforts, come from instrumental pieces. 

What a time to spend, then, with Mogwai. A true delight of a listen thanks to the continued freshness and consistency of its instrumental fundamentals. The Bad Fire whines and rages with some aesthetic qualities which put to rights the space-rock format. Soft yet assured dives into what is, essentially, a continuation of a genre whose time in the spotlight drifted in the decades after its conception. Beautiful moments are plentiful on this release, and The Bad Fire finds itself near the light at the end of a tunnel of salvation. Its interpretation of Hell is a place, naturally, to escape from, but it is not the blistering heat or the reflection of how you got there that matters, but how you get out, where you start to march when the going gets tough. There is a darkness close to overwhelming The Bad Fire, but Mogwai, credit to their character and camaraderie, pushes through.