Mogwai - ‘Burning‘ Party - The Scala - 3/6/10

Another fine night at the London Scala as tonight is not your ‘usual’ sort of gig with the venue gearing up for the first London showing of Mogwai’s new feature film ‘Burning‘

A DJ set by fellow Rock Action buddy Steve from Errors provided magnetic beats in the foyer, music to subliminally listen to as the seamless changeover with Andrew Hung of Fuck Buttons rocking up to the decks, his electro/ techno mish-mesh provided the perfect appetizer for an eagerly anticipated film.

I managed to catch support act ‘Remember Remember’ who really came through with the musical goodies. An over abundance of layers, progressively engineered into a myriad of sound with xylophone harmonies and delicate samples, anyone who has seen Remember Remember before would have been in for a surprise as this was no mere solo show revolving around acres of loops, James Swinburne appeared with a five strong band along with him allowing tracks such as 'Mountain' to really sound their best. With so much going on I couldn't help but find myself comparing them to a less vintage Arcade fire.

The feature film begins; the impressive piece was filmed in black, white and greyscale tones, however I was one of the lucky few that had a nifty view from behind the main projection screen fabricating a Sepia style illustration, setting the mood as the hundreds of bleary eyed fans vision watched, transfixed upon the imagery before them.

‘Burning’ was filmed at the Music Hall in Williamsburg VA on April 27-29 capturing performances from 3 nights by in house art director Vincent Moon who had clearly taken the time and careful planning to cover almost every angle imaginable over the duration of the shows.

It is an exquisite film, full of dynamic contrast, insightful cadence and conquers the best parts of their live performance. It is a little on the short side at only 8 songs long but quality over quantity each and every time and Mr. Moon’s direction has quality in abundance, cleverly congregating the raw essence and sheer heaviness of classic Mogwai tracks such as ‘Mogwai Fear Satan’ ‘Like Herod’ and ending with the earth shatteringly powerful ‘Batcat’.

Mogwai put you in the moment with affluence and exhilaration and all that were involved in this project must be proud of their effort. I can certainly see more artists doing this sort of collaboration with top directors, a great success and a movie night with a twist enjoyed by all.



Words : Outer Audio Joe