Glaswegian rockers Mogwai are legends of the instrumental post-rock genre that gets my ears moist!
Their ten albums delve into different rock styles including a lot of scrumptious instrumental space-rock. The ability to traverse genres has not only given dimension to their discography, it opened doors to curate, collaborate and contribute to revered film scores for movies such as 'Zidane', 'Before The Flood' and 'Kin'.Mind you, anyone hearing their first album, 1997's 'Mogwai Young Team', would have safely bet their cinematic compositions and musicianship were destined to be sought after for film, television and gaming platforms.
As far as the live Mogwai experience goes, it's seven years since these ears have had the pleasure and the last time blew my mind. I wasn't missing out tonight (21 February) at The Tivoli in Brisbane, so I ensured that I had a ticket whether or not I got blessed with approval to shoot and review the show. As it turns out. . .
So here I am, and I'm stoked Mogwai has given local artist JERM the honour of opening their Brisbane show. Settling in on the dark stage pierced by opaque royal blue streams of light is Stephanie Ganfield (vocals, keytar) and she is joined by Shane Rudken (keys/ synthesizer), Sam Mitchell (drums) and Owen Kruse (guitar).
JERM - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Leading with a strong card, JERM kick into 'Make Your Mind' with its sinister and ethereal sounds. It's a great choice as fans and punters not yet acquainted with JERM are snapping necks towards the stage and taking notice of the atmospheric electronic sounds.
'Sam Song' and 'At Night' come at us with their mix of industrial and gothic flavours before my favourite JERM song, 'Brain Candy'. Punters absorb the creative construction of JERM's music, while Ganfield's clear and dreamy vocals that sail atop the loud and sometimes abrasive music are hypnotising.
After their final song 'Ciggy Vape' the room erupts into cheers of appreciation and during the 30-minute interval, I hear many positive comments regarding JERM's performance, and have picked up more fans who are digging their electro-industrial art.
The excitement is building within the walls of the building as we wait to welcome Mogwai. I look around – the crowd are a very eclectic bunch, the myriad of clothing and hair styles just as expansive as the range of ages of punters in the room. I guess it goes with the Mogwai territory.
Mogwai are known to mix up their set list choices from show to show, apparently to keep it fresh for themselves as well as the die-hard fans attending multiple shows. It's not only considerate, but also a display of self-assuredness and musical proficiency.
Mogwai - image © Clea-marie Thorne
The only predictable song is their opening and exquisite slow burner 'To The Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate The Earth' – it casts a sonic spell of escapism over punters. As it builds to its peak, we are left bathing in its moody and melodramatic afterglow. Hump day has never felt so good!
Not to let the feels subside, next composition is from their album 'The Hawk Is Howling' (2008), 'I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead' with its eerie and impassioned caress – one that seeps past your skin and into your bones.
'Cody' (an acronym from their classic banger 'Come On Die Young' album) provides the first vocal offering of the night, which is happening earlier in the set than I had anticipated, if at all. This song is written by Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals) and it's his vocals that carry the lyrics to our ears, perfectly.
'As The Love Continues' is the title of the album that delivers up our fourth track of the night and represents the sentiment of the room – between band and fan. It is 'Ritchie Sacramento', another song featuring rare vocals.
Mogwai - image © Clea-marie Thorne
Its vibing a pop-rock aesthetic and holding us in a state of absolute rapture. If for whatever ungodly reason you have a buddy stuck in the mainstream and not yet addicted to Mogwai's music, this is the gateway song to get them hooked. 'Dry Fantasy' is next before applause erupts from a number of fans as we hear the first notes of the beautiful and peaceful 'Kids Will Be Skeletons'.
Just like their music, there is not a lot of dialogue from the band except to say "thanks, cheers" after every other song – during a minor technical glitch, we get a dad joke (the only joke Stuart knows). It was along the lines of (or supposed to be) "Why did the baker have brown knuckles? Because he kneaded a poo!"
The punishing riffs of 'Rano Pano' get the blood pumping as it grates against the ambience of the song before. 'Ex-Cowboy' has a mesmerising bassline that cuts deep and when guitar and drums take over, well the room is writhing with bodies enveloped in the blissful sound that is accompanied by more elaborate changes in the lighting, which bring the wow factor to our eyes.
At one moment the stage went into an agent orange sunset and another, the huge, black encased spots rotated to blast orange beams up to the roof, but the effect was that the light was coming down through the roof, stopping head height across the stage because the spots were obscured on the dark stage. It looked like an alien craft landing.
Mogwai - image © Clea-marie Thorne
We are then drenched in the precision and passion of 'Drive The Nail', before we are taken on an epic adventure through the depths and multi-dimensional layers of 'New Paths To Helicon, Pt. 1' before 'Remurdered' sends us on a winding road towards a mountain peak of churning electro textures that are menacing.
All the guitars get the spotlight in 'Old Poisons' and Martin Bulloch is cutting loose to give a smashing performance on the tubs.
For the encore, Mogwai treated the audience to 'Killing All The Flies' before ending their 14-track set with 'Mogwai Fear Satan' that unravels around our ears as a perfect storm of emotion and sound – kissing us with gentle breezes one minute to rolling and thunderous crescendos the next.
Mogwai - image © Clea-marie Thorne
The Mogwai live experience is always a loud one and tonight, no exception. I must mention the amazing sound tech barely looked up to the stage from his desk – he was so absorbed in doing a great job and indeed he did, as did the lighting programmer, Jasmine Hewitt, who silhouetted the musicians and added dimension to the sounds.
Through colour and shapes, she went from darkness into unicorn territory with rainbow lighting and gave us our own close encounters of the Mogwai kind with sparkling stars and voluminous arcs of bright white or coloured light.
While Mogwai lavished us with their instrumental masterpieces taking us on a trip to a shared musical nirvana, when I was not fixated on the stunning light show I often closed my eyes to bathe without distraction in their otherworldly soundscapes.
Now it is over. While I feel a sense of fulfilment, the authenticity of Mogwai's live musical odyssey has left another indelible mark on my soul – I'm already yearning for their next return.
More photos from the concert.
