The cosmic post-rock band Mogwai were formed in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1996 by guitarist/vocalist
, longtime friends with the goal of creating "serious guitar music." Toward that end they added another guitarist,
titled "Angels vs. Aliens," landed in the Top Ten on the British indie charts. Following appearances on a series of compilations,
returned later in the year with the 7" "Summer"; after another early-1997 single, "New Paths to Helicon," they issued
, a collection of their earliest material.
Around the time that
Mogwai recorded the superb 1997 EP
4 Satin, former
Teenage Fanclub and
Telstar Ponies member
Brendan O'Hare joined the lineup in time for the recording of
Mogwai's debut studio LP,
Mogwai Young Team, exiting a short time later to return to his primary projects,
Macrocosmica and
Fiend. Again a quartet,
Mogwai next issued 1998's
Kicking a Dead Pig, a two-disc remix collection; the
No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew) EP appeared a few months later. In 1999, they released
Come on Die Young.
Rock Action arrived in early 2001. Late that year,
Mogwai released the
My Father, My King EP; two years later, they issued the ironically titled
Happy Songs for Happy People.
Government Commissions: BBC Sessions 1996-2004 arrived early in 2005.
Mr. Beast, which was released in 2006, found the band going in a softer, more reflective direction. Late that year, the band's collaboration with
Clint Mansell on the soundtrack to
The Fountain arrived;
Mogwai also crafted the score for Douglas Gordon's
Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait, which was released in the U.K. in 2006 and in the U.S. the following spring. The
Batcat EP, which featured a collaboration with garage-psych legend
Roky Erickson, arrived in late summer 2008, heralding the release of
The Hawk Is Howling -- which reunited the band with producer
Andy Miller for the first time in a decade -- that fall. In 2010,
Mogwai released their first live album, Special Moves, as a package with the Vincent Moon-directed concert film
Burning.
For 2011's Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will, the band reunited with Young Team producer Paul Savage for a more streamlined set of songs. Later that year,
Mogwai followed up with an EP of unreleased material from the Hardcore sessions, Earth Division, released on Sub Pop. Late in 2012, the band issued A Wrenched Virile Lore, a collection of Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will remixes. Early the following year, the first taste of their score to the French zombie TV series
Les Revenants (which was based on the 2004 film of the same name) arrived as a four-song EP; in February 2013, the full-length album appeared.
–
Jason Ankeny, Rovi