★★★★☆
Releasing their soundtrack for the documentary filmAtomicas a standalone record shows the kind of confidence that Mogwai have in their composition, and that confidence is well placed.
The Scottish powerhouse have stripped back for this cinematic effort, emphasising keyboard and orchestrals over their post-rock format, and created an evocative soundscape ringing with the wonder and horror of the atomic age.
It’s at its most vibrant when it picks up momentum, as in the pulse of ‘Scram’ and the driving synth of ‘U-235’. The masterful interplay of song pacing shows the care put into assembling the album and makes the wasteland of ‘Pripyat’ feel grounded in the dread and promise of the documentary.
The record’s emotional core is twofold – the giddy urgency of scientific progress, and pensive reflection on the tragedy of a miraculous power misused. ‘Fat Man’, as the album’s closer, is naturally the most haunting standalone track and a fitting companion piece to the elation of ‘Tzar’ and its callback to ‘Ether’.
Mogwai’s cathartic powers have long been known, but the band that emerges here is one that has mastered another feat altogether. Atomic reveals Mogwai to be storytellers of profound imagination.
Mogwai’sAtomicis out through Rock Action.
