One of experimental music’s busiest groups, Scottish post-rock group Mogwai have announced their latest LP, Every Country’s Sun. It will be released September 1, 2017 on Temporary Residence Ltd. in North America.
Accompanying the album’s announcement is the first single, “Coolverine,” a six-minute track that squeezes in much of what makes Mogwai one of the best in their genre. The song features a simple, quiet guitar riff over ambient keys and a prominent bass line. Stuart Braithwaite and company take the listener on a relaxing voyage, though it eventually hits that trademark goosebump-inducing crescendo towards the final third.
Mogwai has always been fairly subdued in the length of their experimentations, but Every Country’s Sun promises an even more concise, “distilled” product. Clocking in at 56 minutes, the Dave Fridmann-produced album even features a little bit of singing from Braithwaite, truly a rarity in the Mogwai discography.
To say the album was created during a tumultuous period in history is an understatement. As Braithwaite mentions in a press release: “We were vaguely getting over the Scottish referendum, then the death of David Bowie, along comes Brexit, and then Trump.” It was also a time of change for the band: Every Country’s Sun is the first to not include John Cummings, who left the group in 2015 and the album was created through band members’ personal demos, sending files to each other via Dropbox.
Recording took place at Fridmann’s Tarbox Road Studios in Chautauqua County, which is located in New York. The band was able to fully immerse in their work and the isolation of the studio, and come away with the 11 tracks that make up the album.
Just a few weeks ago, the band announced their 2017 tour dates. The band previously played shows around their incredible documentary film score for Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise. That album just cracked the upper echelon of our best albums of 2016 list, coming in at #10.
UPDATE (6/7): Mogwai have released a stunning new video for the first single from Every Country’s Sun, “Coolverine.” The black and white clip was directed by Hand Held Cine Club.
Every Country’s Sun track listing
1. Coolverine
2. Party In The Dark
3. Brain Sweeties
4. Crossing The Road Material
5. aka 47
6. 20 Size
7. 1000 Foot Face
8. Don’t Believe The Fife
9. Battered At The Scramble
10. Old Poisons
11. Every Country’s Sun
Photo Credit: Marv Watson
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