I Just Read About That…

SOUNDTRACK: MOGWAI-4 Satin EP (1997).

Mogwai seemed to thunder onto the scene back in 1997.  I missed this disc when it came out but I was on board with their debut.  And then it seemed like a whole bunch of stuff was released right away: a collection of early EPs and a remix album.  It was a little hard to keep everything straight including what the band actually sounded like.

This EP is pretty representative of their early sound: it has three songs that are less “songs” than they are soundscapes (or something).   It’s something of a noise fest.  Unlike their later songs which have discernible melodies (and are actually quite catchy) the three songs on this EP are more percussion and effects than actual melodies.

“Superheroes of BMX” is a series of washes over a simple series of electronic-sounding beats (it actually seems appropriate that they were on Chemical Underground records).  Although by around 5 minutes the minimal guitar structures do come out.  “Now You’re Taken” is closer to a proper song.  It has a beautiful understated structure and vocals (!) by Aidan Moffat of Arab Strap.

But it’s “Stereodee” that really stands out: 13 minutes of noise and crashing and feedback.  At about the ten minute mark, my five year-old son said, “I like this song daddy, it sounds like monsters crashing through a small hole.”  I couldn’t agree more.

[READ: March 7, 2011] “Honor”

Golly, this story is dark.  How’s this for an opener: “My father was supposedly dead, and I found out only years later that he’d left walked out when I was eighteen months old….”  Yipes.

And I’ll say that the story doesn’t get any brighter.

So the narrator, born in the late 50s, tells the story of her mother raising a daughter (with the help of her mother who lives close by), and somehow making ends meet.  Of course she would never even consider moving back home with her mom, but she is happy to have her so close.

The mother and the narrator are strong-willed and hard to stop.  And when they are on the same side, they are formidable together. But when they disagree with each other (which they did pretty much all the time once she was a teen), it was tough being in their house.

The story unveils a plot about half way through.  The plot concerns her Aunt Andy.  Aunt Andy is her father’s brother’s wife.  And she comes to stay with them for a period of time.  In the past, Andy was shy but a little superior.  Her husband is a used car salesman and quite wealthy.  But on this visit she is pale and visibly shaken.  She is quiet and doesn’t mention her son at all.  In the past, her son was a real jerk, so she’s somewhat relieved that the boy isn’t staying with them.

Andy won’t say what the problem is and her mother refuses to tell her anything serious.  But even at the young age the narrator knows something is wrong.  And then there’s the trial.

The details of the story are horrifying.  And I kept waiting for a kind of bright spot to appear.  The very ending does show a glimmer of hope, but there is so much darkness, that the glimmer is very faint indeed.   Despite all the negativity, I enjoyed the story.  It really spoke to the power that women have and how hard it was for them to get by in the world.  I was really gripped by it.

The one big surprise for me was that the book was set in England. There were no indicators for the first 2/3 of the story.  She never said “Mum”–although she does say it later in the story, and there were no notably British words.  Then suddenly about 2/3 of the way through she talks about a man running off to Nottingham.  That’s pretty fascinating.