Mogwai

Mogwai formed in Glasgow in 1995, Stuart Braithwaite and Dominic Aitchison at the core of a group that would spend the next three decades redefining what guitar music could do. They were part of the post-rock wave that emerged in the mid-90s — bands like Tortoise, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and Explosions in the Sky who were making instrumental music of extraordinary ambition and emotional range.

'Mogwai Young Team' (1997) was the debut that announced everything. The dynamic range was extraordinary — from near-silence to overwhelming volume in a single track, the guitars building and collapsing with a precision that felt almost architectural. 'Mogwai Fear Satan' in particular — seventeen minutes of controlled intensity — became one of the defining pieces of the post-rock era.

The albums that followed — 'Come On Die Young' (1999), 'Rock Action' (2001), 'Happy Songs for Happy People' (2003) — each refined and extended the template without repeating it. Mogwai were never a band who made the same record twice. Each album found new ways to use the same basic materials: guitars, bass, drums, and the space between them.

Their later work expanded into electronics and film scores — they scored the French television series 'Les Revenants' (The Returned) in 2012 and 2015, introducing their music to an entirely new audience. The scores demonstrated a melodic sensitivity that the more aggressive post-rock records had sometimes obscured.

'As the Love Continues' (2021) won the Mercury Prize — a recognition that felt both overdue and completely right. The album was one of their most accessible and most beautiful, full of the kind of melodies that stay with you for days. Stuart Braithwaite and the band show no signs of slowing down. After thirty years, they remain one of the most essential live acts in Britain.