Mogwai - Atomic: a brilliant soundtrack to Mark Cousins' atomic-age documentary

Detached from the stark and unsettling images of Mark Cousins’s BBC4 commissioned documentary on the atomic age, Mogwai’s third film soundtrack finds the post-rock four-piece operating within their comfort zone.

Playing on minor variations of familiar themes from the Glaswegians’ 20-year career means the album skips between the suitably cinematic and the solemn mood pieces.

The former is represented by Bitterness Centrifuge's gargantuan, spine-tingling melody and the eerie thrum of U-235, whereas Ether and Pripyat slow-build to soaring but predicable climaxes and the sorrowful Are You A Dancer could have been plucked from 1999's Come On Die Young sessions.

The highlight is SCRAM, a hypnotic, pitch-shifter that fits with the band's recent expeditions to electronic frontiers and bodes well for future, better releases.

[ mogwai.co.uk ]