MOGWAI 'Rave Tapes'

Glasgow's five-piece MOGWAI unveil new album 'Rave Tapes', their first official LP since the revered 2011 release 'Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will'. It's an album that does not deviate too much from what they have done before - the title is, as is often the case with MOGWAI, misleading - but rather develops and fine-tunes their aesthetic for a characteristically powerful and heavy set of songs. Opening with the languid guitar landscape of "Heard About You Last Night", it's an album that sprawls out and pulls a listener in. The twisting guitars of "Hexon Bogon" crash and squall with the kind of visceral and desperate melancholy that only MOGWAI can really conjure, while "Master Card" employs spiky, shaper guitar work for a track that will grate potently on the brain. There's an increasing focus on electronics at play too, with "Remurdered" a solemn strut of undulating synthesizer and a steady beat that grows and grows like a faraway snapshot of the rave of the album's title. Overall it's a powerful addition to a great band's catalog that is just as necessary as any of their previous work.