MOGWAI
By now the group has returned to their quiet Scottish countryside
homes, no doubt suffering some hearing loss after this most recent US
tour. Tuesday night's stop was their second to last on this brief tour,
the band played at the classical-style balcony-equipped Somerville
Theatre in Boston to a nearly sold-out crowd. The performance began as
most of their music does: calm, quiet, melodic and pretty. Selections
included music off their recent EP and LP and their forthcoming "Rock:
Action" album, due for imminent release. But be warned, since their
last visit the group has gained weight, lost hair and collected
distortion pedals along the way. Yes, they're fucking angry this time
with a wall of sound lounder than anything I've heard in years.
Exercising their volume muscles half way through the show every song
began to end on a very loud note, with humming feedback dragging on
while the members stood in front of amplifiers just to get -that- much
more umph. But wait, just when you thought it was loud enough, the
keyboardist emerges towards the front of the stage, guitar in hand, he
clicks it on slams a floor pedal and BOOM! The noise suddenly becomes
even more multi-dimensional. Much like many of these songs, the show
itself ended with a long barrage of distortion stretching at least
twenty minutes. Now, while many fans in attendance there were entirely
blown away by the experience, I found it rather excessive. People were
leaving the show with only one thing on their mind "that was loud!"
Indeed it was, but it sort of masked the musical portion of the show.
Nobody at this point could remember the keyboardist's flute-playing
bits or delicate piano playing, unfamiliar melodies of a forthcoming
album or a beautiful cellist that sat on stage right adding a charming
color nearly half the night. It was indeed Rock Action - a bunch of
teenagers nodding and agreeing with their buddies about how much that
show "kicked ass." Are Mogwai to become the Motley Crue of this decade?