For the month of October, I’m taking the #OctAtoZBandChallenge challenge. The premise is simple. Pick a band starting with the day’s assigned alphabet letter and then choose a song from that band.
Day 13
Now onto a band that I was much too late getting into. Somehow these largely instrumental post-rock geniuses evaded my radar for far too long. Some of my favorite music come from bands that make songs I can get lost in. Songs that make me forget about my circumstances, or the opposite, help me to see my circumstances with even greater clarity. Mogwai’s music does this for me. I’ve mostly been drawn to the instrumental stuff. But on As The Love Continues, an album born out of the pandemic, Track #4 has vocals, and the song is just so good.
“Ritchie Sacramento” is a track that I treat just like all of Mogwai’s great instrumental tracks. The vocals are pretty spot on, and they even make me wish Mogwai sang more and wrote more lyrics. But I also listen to those vocals like they’re an instrument, interwoven with those shimmery guitar hooks. The vocals and instruments are like soulmates on this one. It may not happen often, but when Mogwai adds lyrics like they did on “Ritchie Sacramento”, the results are absolutely worth it.
“Rise crystal spear flied through over me. Suddenly gone from here, left alone on the road. What brings you back? Promises of a memory. Your own ghost running away with the past.”