As The Love Continues

Post-rock legends Mogwai have been around for 26 years at this point, still releasing consistently in the 2010s, mostly though soundtracks. I'll admit though, I haven't been impressed with the band since 2011's Hardcore Will Never Die, so my hopes for As The Love Continues wasn't too high. I just wanted to see them retire the sound that Explosions In The Sky, and third wave bands that rip off Explosions In The Sky have been doing for many years now, and go back to their adventurous, visceral classics. But no, this has every one or those tiring third wave clichés in the book; mostly instrumental rock with shimmering reverb guitars, chord progressions that sound like they are from any forgettable indie rock band, and of course crescendos... lots of underwhelming crescendos. The production is solid, and Mogwai returns with a larger instrumental presentation; additional keys and electronics, but the compositional skills is just as weak as its been on the last few records. For example, the crescendo on "Midnight Flit" is so lazy and predictable, that it just sounds like someone is turning up the volume knob for 6 minutes, until the end is blaring. The few daring moments are appreciated when they arrive, but there are far too little. The end of "Drive the Nail" has some bite to it, but it's too late after they've bored me to tears for the first 5 minutes. "Ceiling Granny" is at least consistently excited with its larger than life presentation, triumphant chord progression and tremolo leads. "Supposedly, We Were Nightmares" has a bit more daring leads, and the electronics actually lead to the most beautiful soundscape on the record. Like I said, the production and additional instrumentation is decent, but the tepid compositions do not reinforce them.

Favorite tracks: "Ceiling Granny", "Supposedly, We Were Nightmares"

Least favorite tracks: "Richie Sacramento", "Midnight Flit"