By Grant Kelly, Contributor

[Temporary Residence Ltd.; 2024]

Rating: 5/10

Key Tracks: “What Kind of Mix is This?,” “Fanzine Made of Flesh,” “If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others”

The Bad Fire is the latest studio album from long-time post-rock band Mogwai, who have spent the better part of the last 30 years developing their uniquely atmospheric and emotive sound. On this album, as with many of their other works, the band uses their time-tested style as a base to explore a range of new ideas; this time around, with a particular affinity for bright, synthesized tones. But while The Bad Fire is often texturally pleasing, it unfortunately struggles to form an impactful album experience. 

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Opening tracks “God Gets You Back” and “Hi Chaos” set the album off on a dreamy note, the former driven by hypnotic synth arpeggios that interlock with mirrored guitar riffs, while the latter is supported by a restless, yet catchy melody. However, despite their cohesive sound, I find them to be somewhat hindered by production choices. “God Gets You Back” introduces a lot of colorful electronic effects, but seems to lose control of them at times, which leads to elements such as the drums losing some of their presence in the mix. “Hi Chaos” has a similar problem, with the lead guitar losing clarity as the band picks up in intensity, although the ending of the song keeps things from becoming stagnant with a new chord progression and a dense instrumental swell. 

Moments on the album where the band experiments with unusual textures prove to be some of the strongest. “What Kind of Mix is This?” sports a persistent, bubbly synthesizer line that accentuates the high notes of the guitar riff in a neat way. The whole track has a fuzzy, harmonic quality to it that makes it one of the album’s most gratifying. Later in the tracklist, playful percussive notes guide the song “Hammer Room”, which unfolds into a delightfully complex melody accented by a multi-layered instrumental. 

“If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others” might be the most slow-burning track on the album, but it does ultimately pay off with a classic post-rock crescendo. Its climax stands as one of the album’s heaviest moments, with compounding layers of noisy guitars that come to a screeching halt with a thunderous final chord, before gently concluding with a lone guitar riff.  

The album’s flaws manifest in two main ways: inconsequential rehashing of ideas and awkward dynamic detours. “Pale Vegan Hip Pain” has a fine atmosphere, but ultimately feels indistinct from other tracks. “18 Volcanoes” suffers from a similarly unremarkable composition, with the vocals on the track also becoming an issue. With relatively minimal vocal processing compared to the glitchy vocoder-laden singing from earlier tracks, the song seems rather out of place, almost like it came from a different album entirely. 

“Fanzine Made of Flesh” is a bit of an anomaly. In isolation, it’s a pretty fun, straightforward indie rock and shoegaze tune, and I would readily recommend it as one of the band’s most accessible songs. Placed in the context of the album, however, it clashes pretty dramatically with the gradual, sprawling soundscapes the rest of the project is built around. “Lion Rumpus” has some stylistic dissonance too, but it also comes across strangely unfinished. It has a good sonic foundation, but listening to it feels like jumping right into the most energetic part of a much longer song with no warning, and it ends up falling flat because of it. 

Despite a shaky mid-section, “Fact Boy” is a strong closing track to the album. It’s a beautifully serene ambient rock piece that incorporates sounds from across the record, creating ebbs and flows of sweeping distortion as it goes along that bring the whole track to life. 

The Bad Fire makes for pleasant listening, and it does occasionally make moves to distinguish itself within Mogwai’s discography. But if you’re looking for a focused realization of the band’s potential, I’d probably recommend starting somewhere else.

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