Mogwai – ZeroZeroZero OST – Album Review
by Killian Laher

In the same way that Trent Reznor turned out a perfect soundtrack for these times, the music of Mogwai seems tailor-made for the current situation we are living in.  However, this is actually a soundtrack for an Italian crime series.  The pieces are numerous (21!) and many of them are very short, but they all melt into each other.  Visit Me opens with spooky keyboards and the album does little wrong from there.  The growling guitars of I’m Not Going When I Don’t Get Back are perfectly pitched.  By and large, it’s a keyboard-heavy affair, they brood magnificently on the likes of the bafflingly-titled Chicken Guns, Nose Pints and the dark rumbles of Invisible Frequencies.

Spookiness abounds, with moody keyboards on Moon In Reverse and Don’t Make Me Go Out On My Own, while the soaring, spinetingling Major Treat and Summon the Sacred Beast are practically uplifting.  Frog Marching owes a debt to the slower side of Joy Division, more in spirit than in actual sound.  The album’s not without its chilled out moments, such as Modern Trolls, which features what is best described as ‘surf’ guitar and the zonked-out keyboards on He Loved Trees will appeal to anyone who liked their Les Revenants soundtrack.  If it’s possible to do zen in a dark way, Mogwai manage it on the piano-led Witches of Alignment.

The band can do little wrong.  As good as any of their recent work, this will be an essential purchase for Mogwai fans.

Track List:

1. Visit Me
2. I’m Not Going When I Don’t Get Back
3. Telt
4. Chicken Guns
5. Nose Pints
6. Fears of Metal
7. Space Annual
8. Invisible Frequencies
9. Moon In Reverse
10. Don’t Make Me Go Out On My Own
11. Lesser Glasgow
12. Frog Marching
13. El Dante
14. Major Treat
15. Rivers Wanted
16. Summon The Sacred Beast
17. Modern Trolls
18. The Winter’s Not Forever
19. He Loved Trees
20. Witches of Alignment
21. The Wife Was Touched

Visit Me