Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound is a music documentary that seeks to stand out. Following the band during the creation of their tenth studio album in the midst of a pandemic, the film opens up beyond the usual scope of this type of music documentary, showcasing the community that has made Mogwai the success it is today.
It begins just as Mogwai is on the cusp of an unexpected UK number 1 with their latest album, As the Love Continues, and flashes back to the late 1990s, where they are committed from the outset to creating the same guitar landscapes in widescreen format. Alex Kapranos, who first introduced them on stage at the 13th Note Café, speculates that these emotional exercises express what the taciturn Glaswegian men don't usually express. By recalling that the band recorded a version of the Jewish prayer "Avinu Malkeinu" (the 2001 single "My Father My King"), producer Arthur Baker inadvertently points to the religious and ecstatic nature of Mogwai live. But it's writer Ian Rankin who identifies the band's loud/soft dynamic as belonging to a tradition of "Scottish antisyzygy."
Director: Antony Crook
Stars: Dominic Aitchison, Stuart Braithwaite, Martin Bulloch
Stuart Braithwaite and his bandmates have a curiously oblique presence, filmed in the studio and on stage, but only occasionally caught up in the author's narrative. But by splicing different performances of the same song together to make these compositions seem even more gigantic, evolving, and saurian entities, the music speaks for itself.
The band's instrumental music acts as a current throughout the documentary: a beating heart that ebbs and flows between commentators, including collaborators and passionate fans, who emphasize what Mogwai means to them. Director Antony Crook takes the time to converse with his interviewees and, in a way, constructs a fable about Mogwai's true legacy. By choosing not to follow traditional band interview methods, the documentary paints a beautiful picture of the community surrounding the band. Isn't community what music seeks to create?
What's touching about this approach is that there's no conceit at all. As in many music documentaries, the subjects are seen over-explaining their journey, which often leads the band members to discussions about their art, their success, and even, at times, disagreements or infighting. Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound has none of that. Instead, it focuses on the connections created through their music, on the people who have been impacted, both small and large. For a band whose sound feels like a wave washing over you, it's charming.
The film falls into some of the usual music documentary clichés, but only by chance. Mogwai: If the Stars Had a Sound was designed to cover the trajectory of their most recent album, but it was only by luck that the album became a smash hit for the band. Reaching number one in the charts, the melancholic Glasgow band achieved what seemed impossible during their nearly 25-year existence, making it a true underdog story. In an era where people relied primarily on music to survive, Mogwai achieved it for many, without changing the sound that united them all in the first place.
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