Mogwai: If the Stars Had A Sound (2024) User Reviews

An Emotion-Fueled Journey

[kev-mcca · 8/10 · 14 March 2024]

Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound offers an intimate glimpse into the band's Glasgow roots, creative process, and some of the impact its music has made on its fans.

Director Antony Crook paints a picture of Mogwai through archival footage, interviews with collaborators, video confessionals from fans, and fly-on-the-wall footage of the band going about their (sometimes COVID-19-affected) daily lives. The film is bookended by scenes of the recording, production, and release of the band's 2021 album, As The Love Continues.

Clever use of (maybe?) a 360-degree camera enables the perspective to wander and explore the setting, before eventually settling on the subject, in a way that neatly fits with the atmospheric, instrumental music.

And the music really is the heart of this film. Mogwai's music is played in footage of gigantic live performances, quiet demo sessions, and studio tracks that make up most of the film's score. Songs are given room to breathe, and played almost in full. In Austin's ZACH Theater, it was loud and sounded incredible.

Rather than telling you their story, the band lets others do most of the talking. We see collaborators, producers, and musical contemporaries share their experiences with the band, their roles in some of the songs and albums, and the effects that the band has had on them.

I was particularly moved by a section that introduces producer Dave Fridmann and Tarbox Road Studios - the film takes the viewer through his incredible discography, sees footage and anecdotes from the band's Come On Die Young sessions with him, and then ties it back together as Fridmann produces As The Love Continues remotely from New York, while the band records in the UK during COVID-19.

Footage of Glasgow pops up throughout. Sometimes, lengthy establishing shots can feel like filler in a documentary, but in this case, these shots are almost always accompanied by dialogue or an important music cue - something that keeps things moving.

I hope that Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound provides a solid entry point for casual fans, and even something for non-fans to connect to and find compelling. But I think it will really resonate with hardcore fans who want new insights, unseen archival footage, and a chance to see this band playing the music they love, loud, and on a giant screen.

This is your Mogwai. This is my Mogwai. This is everybody's Mogwai.

[prange-2 · 9/10 · 13 March 2024]

For the uninitiated, Mogwai are a Scottish instrumental rock band (also sometimes classified as post-rock) hailing from Glasgow, Scotland.

Their formation in the late 90s took the world by storm with their first official studio album called Mogwai Young Team. It was a sonic journey unlike any other and the band developed a serious group of dedicated followers with it. Since that album in 1997, they've gone on to create 9 more studio albums and 9 soundtracks for various film and TV series.

In 2021, the band released their 10th studio album (As The Love Continues) and had recorded it remotely in London while the producer for the album was several hours behind them in New York.

Like everything at the time, virtual was the new foundation and Mogwai were no different in trying to conquer a mountain when the world was in a state of upheaval due to COVID-19.

In a crazy aligning-of-the-stars moment, As The Love Continues was the #1 album in the UK the week of its release.

The #1 spot was highly welcomed by the fans of the band who've known for years that the group deserved it. And although the documentary was meant to tour us through the creation of the album and to the penultimate event of performing in their hometown in Glasgow for the first time in 2 years (in November 2021), it has become so much more than that.

The documentary informs us at the beginning that we are going on a journey. The destination may be where we think we're heading, but the road to it is certainly windy and requires patience.

Roping in producers and crew from the beginning of Mogwai's formation and through Mogwai Young Team and Come On Die Young (their 2nd studio album), the documentary paints the picture of how As The Love Continues was even possible to do remotely because of those cornerstones during the band's formative years.

The film takes us through the creation of several Mogwai songs as well, and not just from As The Love Continues. The beauty of this film lies in the heart of why the band keep doing what they do: for the music. For the fans. For the emotions that can only be expressed through their music. Terrible heartache, immense joy, pensive reflections, and shirt-shredding guitars. That's Mogwai.

Antony Crook and co. Have done not just a brilliant job of making a film about Glasgow's finest musicians, but also illuminating to the rest of the world just how the culture of Scotland, its rich history and unique outlook have shaped not only Mogwai's experiences, but our own through their music.

The film does show us how As The Love Continues was "made" and does a good job of sprinkling it throughout the film, reminding us that their #1 album wouldn't have been possible if not for the hard work during the decades prior to it. It can't be stated enough just how much the world that so desperately yearned for light at the end of the COVID tunnel hung onto it and helped to catapult it into something entirely different.

Funny, because this documentary has a similar vibe that when it started it perhaps was meant to be a linear journey, but along the path of life we all discover there are many nonlinear chapters that we are forced into (like COVID), and sometimes those paths have results that are catastrophic.

The stories from this film are not just those from the band, but from those who have helped guide the band over the years as well as many who have been influenced by their music, while sometimes illuminating those intersecting paths.

There's something in this film for everyone - those who have yet to discover Mogwai, those who have been a casual fan for a period of time, and those who have been hardcore fans for any period of time.

The film is worth checking out for anyone who has an immense appreciation of how powerful music can be without many (or any) words. It's worth the wait and even sweeter for those who have followed this amazing band for years.