CD of the Month for November is: 'Happy Songs for Happy People' by Mogwai
Mogwai's music inspires waves of hyperbole, none of which does justice to the massive and detailed sound of the band. Detractors might have once accused them of relying too heavily on the soft/loud/soft formula, especially after the often gorgeous, but predictable, Come On Die Young. But that record contained hints of a new creative direction that crystallized on Rock Action, one of 2001's standout rock albums. There Mogwai diversified its bag of tricks, employing sophisticated post-production techniques and a heightened sense of musical economy to further balance the warring poles of minimalism and cacophony.
Happy Songs for Happy People continues to work on the grounds established by Rock Action, but it also draws readily from Action's precursors. The result is an album that blends and distills Mogwai's most satisfying elements down to a near-perfect 41 minutes. Happy Songs is epic and subtle, technically savvy and emotionally charged and visceral all at once -- in short, it's a summary of everything that is great about Mogwai's music.
The progression marked by Happy Songs is exemplified by "Killing All the Flies," a song that condenses Mogwai's sprawling sonic oscillations into a tightly wound four-and-a-half minutes. The familiar hyper-driven guitars duck in and out of the mix of submerged vocals and electronic manipulations, capturing the ornate sense of grandeur that is Mogwai at its best, in half the time. This might not be the best song on the album, but it is perhaps the most emblematic of the record's driving aesthetic.
In actuality, time spent identifying a standout track among this nine-song collection is futile. Happy Songs for Happy People is a great record due in no small part to its cohesion, its uninterrupted flow. No small accomplishment, especially given the weight of the material. What are most surprising are guitarist Stuart Braithwaite's vocal contributions. On earlier records, his subtle but captivating voice required special attention, but now it perfectly assumes the role of an orchestral instrument, as best heard on "Boring Machines Disturbs Sleep." This is meant neither to diminish the power of earlier songs (such as Action's "Take Me Somewhere Nice") nor to claim that his vocals have a reduced role on the current collection. This, like all aspects of the band's repertoire, exists on Happy Songs in its purest form. Nothing detracts, everything's essential.
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