it's just I've been pondering as to whether they're still relevent.

Don't get me wrong, if I was hard pushed to pick a FAVOURITE band, chances are Mogwai would be it, but listening through
Mogwai Young Team, all the way to The Hawk... it just doesn't seem as if they've got anywhere else to rationally go, short of rehashing some of the darker ideas on CODY or Rock Action or going the direction of "The Sun Smells Too Loud" (gulp).

I mean they've never been a band to repeat themselves album to album, each one has had it's "theme" if you will (eg CODY being the bleak, sparse "difficult" 2nd record, whereas "Happy Songs..." has a more accomplished and direct approach whilst still retaining a very ambient feel).

But the last two albums have been the most similar to eachother i believe (eg beginning with the drawn out and dramatic piano led affair a la Auto Rock/Jim Morrison followed by a skull fucker of a song a la Mega Snake/Batcat, then trawling through some synthy/droney/husky numbers a la Folk Death/Danphe + Brain, finishing off with "the big riff-tastic" We're No here/Precipice etc etc) and Burning is essentially a culmination of the last few years of their live set which adds up all of these wonderful aspects in a neat little noisy package but isn't really evidence of an upward trajectory surely?

I have no doubt that they have it in them to really shake things up in the "post rock" camp if and when they do a new album, but given the climate of instrumental music at the moment, where any band with a cryptic name about birds and the wind and who has a succinct understanding of a delay pedal can pass as the best thing since sliced bread, I'm a tad worried the mighty and ultimately beloved 'Gwai may fail to remain as relevent as they have for the past decade and a half.

Perhaps that last statement regarding their longevity could be their saving grace (as in they've been at it so long, they themselves have a well matured and fool proof plan), but at the same time, I have a horrid feeling it could just be the evidence we need that they're just a bit past it.

here's hoping the former...

any thoughts?