Mogwai’s album, “The Bad Fire,” was released on January 24,
2025. This album is the band’s 11th album and features 10 songs. Mogwai
was formed in Glasgow, Scotland in 1995. They are known for their post-rock
music. The band features Stuart Braithwaite on guitar and vocals, Barry Burns on
guitar, piano, synthesizer, and vocals, Dominic Aitchison on bass guitar, and
Martin Bulloch on drums.
The album features a lot of futuristic and electronic
sounds. Even on songs that break away from this a bit, these sounds still echo.
This sound is a constant across their albums, which allows them to have
continuity in their sound. It has worked for them and they pull it off well,
though it would be cool to have a different sound or to hear them experiment
with something a bit new.
“Hi Chaos” is a fully instrumental track. It takes a little
bit of a break from heavy electronic-sounding instruments, though they are
still present to an extent. Despite the song being about chaos, it is a rather
calm and relaxing song, which matches the rest of the songs on the album.
On the track, “Fanzine Made of Flesh,” the way the vocals
are mixed in comparison to the background instruments makes the words difficult
to understand, especially in the verses. The futuristic, electronic sound of
the vocals is cool, but the vocal track needs to be a bit louder against the
instruments. The intro to the song reminds me of “Runaway Train” by Soul
Asylum.
In general, across several of the tracks, the lyrics are
difficult to hear with the instrumentals. Although the instrumentals on the
tracks sound good and provide the band’s sound, it would be nice to hear the
lyrics as well. None of the songs are
labeled as “Explicit.”
Overall, this album holds true to Mogwai’s sound. It is an
album that can be put on in the background while working on things as the music
is soothing. The lyrics are a bit on the softer side, so they will not be a
distraction if you just want background noise. Otherwise, it may be difficult
to hear what the vocalist is singing at any given point.
Rating: 6.5/10 Flames