Mogwai – The Bad Fire (Rock Action) (13th Floor Album Review)

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For 30 years Scotland’s emblematic Mogwai have produced post-prog – punkish gems that have spanned 11 albums and an array of lesser formatted configurations. Following their UK no.1 album, 2021’s As the Love Continues, and 2024’s biographical film If the Stars Had a Sound. Mogwai return with their latest endeavour, The Bad Fire, an album that continues the struggle to sate their originator, overly-enthusiastic purist fans, with their current crop of neoteric devotees.

Good God! On listening to the opening song, God Gets You Back, I found myself channeling Baby It’s You by Promises (which is a ka pai tune in itself). It’s the snappy synth keyboard melody that hooks, considering Mogwai, it’s almost a pop(ular) song. Mogwai foreshadowed the release of The Bad Fire with toru (online) singles (which I avoided religiously), God Gets You Back, Fanzine Made Of Flesh and Lion Rumpus. But if you just listened to these alone, you’d be missing the gentler, introspective side of Mogwai’s latest effort.

The Bad Fire is full of counterpose, emotive waves, and intricacies, check out If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others, a hat tip to Philip K Dick, with its melody rich sparseness, gentle ambience, and as expected, momentary bursts of turmoil. While on the dancefloor, Hammer Room just screams krautrock, with its  narcotic drumbeat, NEU! could’ve easily included it on their 2 album.

On The Bad Fire, Mogwai continues to synthesize and abstract past, present (and future) musical staves,, in the same way DaDaism, Futurism and Vorticism challenge(d) in the visual arts and literature, thus instigating joy in a most harrowing modern world.

Simon Coffey

Mogwai’s The Bad Fire is released today on Rock Action Records

Simon Coffey
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