Mogwai have gone legit… or have they?
Part of the “official” Edinburgh International Festival, the two nights at the Playhouse to screen and play the film/live soundtrack were announced earlier this year. Most promoters might announce one night to test demand, then maybe another, but EIF just says, right, the two nights, build it and they will come etc. The fact that tickets were at first only available to EIF Platinum patrons (£3K per year subscription) caused BM some hilarity at the time. Did the band know this? Did the artistic patrons of Reekie get clicking to snap up said tickets a week in advance of the great unwashed, well who knows but BM and sidekick ended up in row G of the stalls…
The Playhouse is a big beast of a venue, 3050 seats, the biggest non-shed auditorium in the land. BM can recall a Stranglers gig back in the 80s where the traditional “get on stage” call during ‘Nice n Sleazy’ to the women of Reekie resulted in a mass strip-off (was BM on that stage? – well readers a lady never tells). No such exposure tonight however, but the venue was around 97% full with over 2900 seats full, good job guys.
So Atomic the film is an exploration of the global nuclear industry by director Mark Cousins, using archive footage, sometimes replayed multiple times for effect like a long-form “pop” video. At around 86 minutes the music encompasses all of the Mogwai ‘Atomic’ album, released back in April – and then some.
Mogwai tonight are immense, stately even, using Luke Sutherland on guitar and fiddle plus “new” guitarist (name tbc) along with the regular band members. They fairly shook the panelling at the side where we were seated, in fact at one point BM had concerns one of the jutting balconies might collapse and spoil ma hairdo. So the soundmix is not always the best at the Playhouse but the overall effect was great. Tracks on ‘Atomic’ are often piano-led themes with guitars and other feedback coming in at strategic intervals – the music fitted the images so well and BM would love to know how the whole thing was concocted and then rehearsed for the live rendition, but suffice to say they have played this across the world during 2016 including Japan, where the action starts with our friends ‘Little Boy’ and ‘Fat Man’.
Subsequent images and voiceovers (often with subtitles) cover the gamut of nuclear efforts from Chernobyl to Fukishama, with Dounreay, medical applications like proton therapy, and the verging on the satirical but actually real “what to do in the event of nuclear war?” images in between. BM does not intend to dwell on the pros and cons of nuclear but let us just say that these arresting images along with the spacious and at times pounding soundtrack certainly made us think about it. Serious work, and serious music.
As things drew to a close we observed Stuart quaffing from a wine glass during breaks, oohh check you etc… what happens at EIF stays at EIF… It would have been an absolute sonic pleasure to have a second half of belters, central belters preferably, which could really test the structural architecture of this grand old lady, but this is EIF, no diversions and, to everyone’s credit, no aftershow beard-stroking discussion. There was no self-congratulation or lap of honour from director or band (or maybe saved ’til second night) – they just let music and images speak for themselves.
A mighty show from a mighty, if slightly understated band tonight, although Stuart did set up a truly epic feedback loop on this guitar (well it almost fell off the monitor first time!) to frazzle the audience as the credits rolled – overall a great achievement and we went out into the still completely mad festival last weekend night air with some things to ponder.