2006 has been a damn good year for new records from the world’s favorite indie-rock icons. In March, we can add Mogwai to the list with their first studio album since 2003’s Happy Music For Happy People.
If you’re a fan of Mogwai at all, you know that the difference from one record to the next is slight; often times the only difference is being hinted at within a subtle theme or the mastery of a new instrument in their ever growing arsenal. With Mr. Beast, we get a taste of what Mogwai can do with a piano, and as you might imagine, the effect is stunning.
Also this time around we hear quite a bit more vocals, which come off so well that you really wonder why the band’s main reason for playing mostly instrumental music is that they feel that they don’t perform adequately in the vocal realm. I think the fans are going to have to disagree here.
Though nearly every track on Mr. Beast hovers somewhere around the realm of perfection, for whatever reason, the tracks don’t seem to flow together as an album. What you wind up with feels more like their last release of all their BBC performances. This hodge-podge approach to song order doesn’t take away from the listening experience, which is strong from the first track to the last, tackling all of the appropriate emotional peaks and valleys, but it’s just not what it feels like it could be.
Maybe that’s for the best though, since if Mr. Beast were presented as a whole that is truly as strong as all of its parts, your head would probably explode with pure pleasure overload. Thanks for keeping us alive Mogwai with a nearly perfect record.
Chris Smith
Mogwai (Matador Records)