#dave fridmann

It’s not as if the band had been wandering in the wilderness or anything; since founding member John Cummings left in 2015, Mogwai still kept up the pace with albums and soundtracks and if anything had continued to explore more facets of their sound and setup than most acts half their age. But even without the chart success (it also snuck into the top 10 in the States), As the Love Continues would feel like a bit of a culmination, the way 2011’s Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will. did, a record that takes those explorations and integrates them into a striking, cohesive set of songs. 

This isn’t a case of trying to reinvent the wheel so much as it is reveling in just how very good you’ve gotten at making wheels in the first place. Devotees will not be particularly surprised to find a single lovely track with vocals (“Ritchie Sacramento,” written in memory of the Silver Jews’ David Berman), a few more intense little riffers that lend themselves well to furious physical activity (“Ceiling Granny,” “Supposedly, We Were Nightmares”) and some more atmospheric, even elegiac songs (“Dry Fantasy,” “Midnight Flit” and its strings arranged by past collaborator Atticus Ross). 

Still, even when working with an established palette, much of As the Love Continues shows off particularly muscular, vivid uses of it. The opening “To the Bin My Friend, Tonight We Vacate Earth” (taking its title and opening sample from the somnambulant muttering of Blanck Mass’s Benjamin John Power) has a stately but bruising power that sounds like a Pacific Rim robot being assembled, maybe, while the combo of “Drive the Nail” and “Fuck Off Money” flips naturally from the former’s surprisingly lithe monomaniacal pound to the latter glowering and sizzling like something from The Thing being fried on a griddle. 

The band had worked with producer Dave Fridmann before, although never remotely, but there are even some new tricks up their sleeves; on the extended build of “Pat Stains” some of the whirling howl that’s generated comes from guest Colin Stetson’s mighty saxophone, and it’s both unlike anything the band have done and perfectly in line with their strengths. As they close with the glowing, nocturnal crescendos of “It’s What I Want to Do, Mum” listeners can both get a chuckle out of another top tier Mogwai track name and recognize the truth and strength of the statement; As the Love Continues is what they want to do, and it’s working out spectacularly.