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indie-snob>+!#
happy songs for happy people by mogwai
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8.5 "Happy Songs for Happy People" by Mogwai Ahhh, Scotland never tasted so good! Well... there was that Arab Strap band... not to mention BritPop legends Travis. Seems to me that Scotland has the market cornered on moving, emotionaly largely instrumental work though, with indie darlings Mogwai, who since their debut, have recieved major amounts of credit for their work, especially with previous albums Come On Die Young and their last effort Rock Action. Mogwai has almost remained one of Matador's little secrets, though. (It's amazing how quickly Indie-Snob is turning into a Matador review site... but to be honest, they're just releasing better albums than anyone else is right now.) Despite a larger article in Spin two or so years ago, Mogwai's efforts have remained underpublicized, and, well, underestimated. People in the States have been turned off by instrumental modern rock work for too long. Any normal radio station refuses to play it and most people are refusing to listen. But with bands off Canada's legendary Constellation Records (home of Godspeed You Black Emperor!, Do Make Say Think and Fly Pan Am) reaching record amounts of recognition (Do Make Say Think side project Broken Social Scene won the Canadian Grammy for best new artist, over disco-punk newcomers Hot Hot Heat), it's hard not to listen. Happy Songs for Happy People is more than just a piece of pure orchestration. Melodies are overtaken by record amounts of traditional piano, synthesizers subtly placed in the back along with carefully programed electionic bleeps. In fact, Mogwai's new material is anything but happy, a dramatic piece of moving instrumentation involving sad guitars and even sadder strings. Vocals appear through thick distortion in songs like "Killing all the Flies" and "Hunted by a Freak." I think Mogwai does a tremendous job of not letting you realize that there are no vocals in this album. Their music becomes so emotional, so melancholic, that you feel without the wails of an emo boy lead singer, sweating and crying into a microphone. As the album progresses, you gain a feeling that you are listening to an experimental masterpiece by a traditional rock band. Somewhere along the lines of Icelandic post-rockers Múm and Sigur Rós, Mogwai brings in swelling electronics, percussion and strings to this point of high glorious tension in "Stop Coming to My House." The songs start slow, build speed, and just when you think that you've had enough, you find yourself wanting more. More melody. More emotion. More sadness. More Mogwai. A breath-taking work. I dare to say a monumental release for the band, more accessable and less "noisy" than previous works, but certainly trying to give up more on the vocal efforts attempted in Come On Die Young. Highly recommended. For Fans of: Múm, Sigur Rós, Low, Yo La Tengo, Arab Strap, Matmos, Constellation bands (Godspeed You Black Emperor!, A Silver Mt. Zion, Do Make Say Think, Fly Pan Am, Re:, etc.), Boards of Canada and probably Sonic Youth |