April 13, 2025
Scotland’s mostly instrumental Mogwai dazzle Montreal
Scotland’s post-rock maestro’s Mogwai, named temporarily after the adorable little creatures out of the Gremlins movies; prior to a midnight feeding that is, more than three decades ago, made their way back to our neck of the woods.
The intention was always for the Mogwai moniker to be a temporary place holder. It stuck. And it’s too late to change that now. Well then, may as well play a sold out Beanfield Theatre on a Sunday night, right? Bring along the madness of Brainiac and Ye Gods for good measure.
See Also: While She Sleeps at L’Olympia, Montreal
I had gotten back to Montreal less than an hour before the doors opened for this show, having spent ten hours in a van with six other people and I wondered if, given the state I was in – sleep deprived and sore, if I’d be able to survive a shoegaze band without falling asleep. On top of that, I had spent the same amount of time headed to my destination the day prior. That’s roughly twenty hours out of thirty spent in a van. Quick maths!
This is a style of music designed to put the listener into a trance like state – and I already was on the edge of delirium. Surely, the soothing melodies of Mogwai were going to put me over the edge and into a deep pit of beautiful, much needed slumber. I had a fight on my hands here. One that couldn’t even be solved by chugging down a can of Monster right before entering the venue. I know. I tried.
Ye Gods
Before testing that theory, however, was a set by Ye Gods, followed by a set from Brainiac. Two acts that are vastly different from one another – and from the headlining group as well, come to think of it.
Starting off your set, by informing your Montreal audience that this is going to be his final performance of the tour – meaning Toronto won’t be getting to see him, is showing your crowd that you understand the geographic. That he knows the populous of the two cities have a rivalry that goes beyond just hockey.
I like that.
Having Ye Gods open a tour like this, is a little of an odd choice. Sort of like when Ummagumma pops up during a Pink Floyd Playlist; it’s by no means bad – but one of these is not like the others… if you catch my drift.
Ye Gods have never crossed my ears prior to this set, and I was eager to get to the venue early to see what they’re all about. A one-man project that consists of a lot of electronics and experimental type stuff. Knob twisting to create elaborate soundscapes that wouldn’t be out of place on as a film soundtrack.
Self described as strange and full of imagination, Ye Gods constantly aim to push their limits and boundaries. This is the sort of soundscape that would work well as an audio track on a David Lynch film – where the body horror is ramped up and shit is about to go down. Its trance-like motifs were really interesting, but with a crowd that wouldn’t shut up and insisted on chatting the whole set, felt annoying. I wanted to focus on what was being said, but all I could here was the disrespectful chatter from the crowd.
I would much rather experience Ye Gods and artists like him, in a room filled with people that appreciate the medium and are there to pay attention to what’s on offer. Sadly, that wasn’t the case here tonight.
As a fan of experimental sound, of genres like Dark Ambient and Field recordings – I found Ye Gods pretty interesting, yet still an odd choice to open a show such as this. I will be digging into their bandcamp page in the future though, I can tell you that. And I’ll do so with my headphones and without the annoyance of outside voices added to the experience.
Brainiac
This was a night where none of the artists playing had very much in common – over than being highly entertaining.
Brainiac are a group that I had almost forgotten about, as they’ve been on hiatus for longer than they’ve been active. The reason for that being that their original singer was tragically killed in a car crash way back in 1997, and the band ceased operations as a result. Fast forward about twenty-five years, to 2023 and Brainiac have reformed and returned to the live seen.
During their six early years, Brainiac wrote and recorded three albums and several EP’s and it was from those records that the group pulled tonight’s setlist – with a wee cover thrown in for good measure too. That cover being a pretty rowdy rendition of Nirvana’s Breed, which elicited quite a reaction from the audience.
With the youth of today trying their damnedest to dress and look as if they were 90s kids, I began to wonder if that also includes the music of that era as well. Were Brainiac perhaps coming back at the utmost best possible time? Maybe. I’m not sure if the kids just want to look like we did back then, as an ironic statement of some kind, or if the arts of that time and now back in as well. I used to be hip, then they changed what hip was!
What I do know, is that there are a great many musicians that point to Brainiac as being a massive influence on them, their music and their careers – which to me, means that this was a band I should be paying a hell of a lot more attention to.
I particularly liked the vocal harmonizers they use to distort their vocals – it’s so creepy and eerie, and I dig that quite a bit. I wasn’t expecting it at first, being less familiar with their music than I used to be when I was in high school (eons ago) and it took me by surprise. Grabbed my attention, lets say.
Tonight’s performance was proof that bands never truly die; they fade away until the timing is right from them to remerge and continue on again. While it was pretty cool to see Brainiac after all these years, I was challenged to remember their tunes. Perhaps I could have better prepared myself by digging through YouTube or what have you. Still, as a whole, Brainiac were a highly energetic and fun group to watch play, and I found them to be thoroughly enjoyable. Quirky and fun. I, for one, am glad to have them back.
Mogwai
Scotland’s Mogwai are an almost instrumental band – that is to stay that on occasion, somebody sings, but for the most part Mogwai prefer to create instrumental pieces of post-punk shoegaze.
The stage had been cleared of most obstacles. No stage monitors of any kind stood between the band and their audience, which is a refreshing thing to bare witness too. However, Mogwai then appeared at the rear of the stage where they shyly perched themselves for the majority of their allotted playing time. In the rear with the gear, keeping the drummer comfy. Maybe Martin Bulloch prefers to be surrounded by his closest friends while drumming. Or maybe Mogwai are shy lads, waiting to see what the water is like before dipping a toe in.
I have seen maybe a live show where the band encourages the crowd to approach the stage; tonight was the polar opposite, where I felt somebody needed to lure the musicians closer to the edge of the stage. Don’t worry! We don’t bite… unless you’re carrying a poutine!
Most of what I know about Glaswegians, comes from the pages of Irvine Welsh novels. Or from comedian Craig Ferguson. Anyway. This is but a long winded build up to where I mention that Mogwai are touring their newest record, their eleventh, called The Bad Fire, which is Glaswegian working-class slang for hell.
Half or tonight’s set was taken from this new record, which is a bit of a bold move. It assumes that those that have come out to see them on this tour have heard the new material and prefer to hear that over the tunes they’ve been listening to for presumably quite some time. Still, there were six other tracks taken from six other records – one per. Seven if you count the encore, which we probably should, eh? I suppose tonight was a set formed for the in the now bunch. So be it.
About the room, everyone seemed to be doing their own thing – finding their own personal trance. Swaying along, moving in what were the most awkward of dance moves, many of them – myself included, with eyes shut for minutes at a time, just trying to soak it all in. To enjoy the flow as it came. Catch a sound wave and ride it to shore. Mogwai craft some beautiful melodies. I was thankful that the audience had enough respect to keep quite and listen to all the little nuances that are contained in Mogwai’s composition – and at the same time, was still annoyed that they couldn’t have shown the same respect for Ye Gods. What kin ye feckin do, aye?
On top of the soundscapes being played tonight being uber relaxing, as shoegaze is indeed meant to be, and for myself, with the fatigue that comes with the miles and miles of travel that I had undergone to get to this point in the evening, were the incredibly dim lights. I get it. Really, I do, Shite lighting is meant to produce a feeling of ambience, of atmosphere, but I do like to see what I’m watching. Surely, there’s a better way to go about this sort of thing.
The night was all but over, since the encore had been played and I felt elated to be leaving the venue. It had been a fantastic experience, one that had left me on cloud nine. Mogwai had indeed increased my need for sleep, through beautiful melodies and rhythms and now, more than ever, I was ready for bed and to see what yarns my dreams might spin for me.
Read More:
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>> The Damn Truth at Mtelus, Montreal
>> Mayhem at Beanfield Theatre, Montreal
This was the epitome of relaxed state and thankfully, the wait for the bus was short; as the ride would be, and I soon would be drifting off to sleep. What I didn’t know, was how fast that would be. I reached home, sat on the couch – and woke up four hours later. Dazed, and wondering if I had really seen these artists tonight – which I had, of course.
This was the most perfect cap to a wild and crazy weekend that saw me spend almost two thousand kilometers on the roads before even seeing these musicians – and thanks to their beautiful artform – I slept wonderfully.
Mogwai, you lads are brilliant.
