| Details | | Contributing Artists: | Luke Sutherland, Richard Formby | | Distributor: | MSI Music Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | DDD |
Album Notes
Mogwai: Barry Burns (guitar, flute, keyboards); Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, keyboards, percussion); John Cummings (guitar, piano); Dominic Aitchison (guitar, bass); Martin Bulloch (drums).
Additional personnel: Dave Fridmann (various instruments); Richard Formby (lap steel); Luke Sutherland (violin); Wayne Myers (trombone).
Recorded at Tarbox Road Studios, Cassadaga, New York and Cava, Glasgow, Scotland.
Japanese exclusive import is packaged in a LP jacket-type case.
CD comes in Jpn LP Sleeve.
Mogwai are top choice, triple-grade A, USDA prime slowcore. OK, they're from Scotland, but that's beside the point. Mostly an instrumental outfit, they strum and drone their way through the 12 tracks on COME ON DIE YOUNG with a dark spirit that is beautiful, breathtaking, and mysterious. Occasionally they'll sing a few bars (the lovely "Cody") and there's restrained use of keyboards and flute throughout. They're also not above descending into a cloud of white noise, as in "Ex-Cowboy." But what makes Mogwai a cut above is their deft use of melody. Although it may not be immediately apparent, there's always a singable phrase being performed somewhere. Was Pavement's Stephen Malkmus being ironic or infatuated when he said, "Mogwai will be the best band of the 21st century"? You decide.
Editorial Reviews
Ranked #25 in The NME Top 30 Heartbreak Albums.
NME (08/12/2000)
...Stark and darkly atmospheric, it obliterated the traditional qiet/loud formula, replacing it with layers of white noise and intense meloncholy...
NME (04/03/1999)
...Though they're high on punk rock attitude, Glaswegian group Mogwai's album is a subdued affair, with moments of graceful beauty nestled inside gathering stormclouds...
The Wire (05/01/1999)
4 Stars (out of 5) - ...opening Punk Rock sets the tone....proceeds at a languid, near-hypnotic pace, with chiming guitars and floaty piano lines piercing through sheets of soporific sound. Bold and frequently beautiful...this is a gentle delight...
Q (05/01/1999)
7 (out of 10) - ...COME ON DIE YOUNG is a melodic, slo-mo album of increments and repeating intervals, where changes are subtle but no less drastic. The formula: lightly strummed guitar bits, lethargic snare snaps, and anonymous ether-chatter that escalates into whirring zeniths of feedback...or cultivates a pretty narcolepsy...
Spin (05/01/1999)
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