Mogwai -‘Les Revenants.’ (Rock Action)

There is a school of thought -not one I subscribe to, by the way – that doesn’t quite see band’s albums that are soundtracks being, well, proper albums. In nearly 20 years of making music, this is Mogwai’s second soundtrack -following on from 2006’s Zidane – A 21st Century Portrait -and as with that album, it holds its’ own with the rest of the Mogwai back catalogue. In this case it’s a French TV series.

The definition of post-rock -which Mogwai are lumped in with – could be the subject of an entire PhD rather than a review of a few hundred words, and I won’t go into it now. But I’ve always felt that a lot of music released under that heading often feels like classical music (and no, not because it’s often instrumental), and this album encapsulates that a great deal.

And there’s still surprises from Mogwai. They’ve taken minimalism to great lengths (‘Mogwai Fear Satan’), nodded to dance music (‘The Sun Smells Too Loud’), covered Black Sabbath (‘Sweet Leaf’) and demonstrated that they can make an entire audience jump out of their skins (‘Like Herod’). This time, there are, in fact, no loud mental bits at all. And yet the end result doesn’t feel that Mogwai have ‘sold out’ or compromised. I know next to nothing about the TV series, but these fourteen tracks are one very impressive whole, from the opening ‘Hungry Face’ to the closing ‘Wizard Motor’ which opened the Les Revenants EP which preceeded this release.

Finally, the penultimate track ‘What Are They Doing In Heaven Today?’ features that rarest of things on a Mogwai record: singing. It’s a cover of a song originally written by Charles Albert Tindley (who is also credited by some with being the man who originated the basis of the US Civil Rights Anthem ‘We Shall Overcome’) and as the sleevenotes is inspired by the version performed by Washington Philips. Mogwai geeks will realise that this is not the first time that the band have performed a song based on a religious motif – see the 2001 single ‘My Father, My King’ which is an old Jewish hymn – but this time the end result is a faithful reading, and yet somehow still Mogwai’s own. I’m not planning on checking out any time soon, but right now, I’m planning on having this at my funeral…

****1/2

Les Revenants is released on Rock Action on February 25.