Album review: Mogwai Les Revenants (Rock Action)

Mogwai's score for the French TV series Les Revenants places certain restrictions on the band's style which, it must be said, work to their advantage. These short cues are restrained and moody, a series of sustained atmospheres lacking the usual Mogwai cathartic climax – any such releases of tension are more subtly and quiety effected, while most tracks simply leave the mood hanging. The closest they come to classic Mogwai is “Special N”, on which string tones and guitar arpeggios gradually acquire a fuzzy burr and counterpoint organ melody; elsewhere, brooding keyboards predominate on tracks like “Hungry Face”, a doomy processional in which tiny glockenspiel tones dot the darkness like lanterns.

Download: Hungry Face; This Messiah Needs Watching; Special N; What Are They Doing in Heaven Today?