In the world of indie rock, there are few held in as high esteem by the people on our block as Glaswegian band Mogwai, purveyors of incomparable psychedelic instrumentals, droning wonders that are timelessly moving. The combination of Stuart Braithwaite and John Cunningam’s harmonic guitar mastery, Dominic Aitchison’s bee-hive basslines, Martin Bulloch’s brush-laden drum tones, and Barry Burns’ carousel of keyboard and flute incantations are consistently noteworthy amongst the past eleven years of independently-produced music.
Their newest outing, the soundtrack to the film Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait is the perfect vehicle for their atmospheric daydreaming. The film, which proved a surprise hit at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, is a documentary-styled portrait of the great French footballer Zinedine Zidane, also known as “Zizou”, whose famed skill catapulted his country to their first FIFA World Cup victory in 1998 during a hard-fought game against Brazil. According to Stuart Braithwaite of Mogwai, they weren’t sure how the music would work set against this particular backdrop.
“It was only when they showed us the film where they had used some of our music that we understood,” says Braithwaite. “It doesn’t look like you are watching a game on Sky TV. It’s something really cinematic and beautiful. It worked with the music and it was interesting for us because even though our music has been used a lot for things; this is the first time we have specifically done something for a project.â€
Hopefully, the film’s success at Cannes will give worldwide audiences an opportunity to see the film in it’s full glory. In the meantime, the soundtrack has landed, which will make everyone’s wait to see the film much more enjoyable.
Listen to Mogwai’s “Black Spider” (from the soundtrack to Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait)
You can check out more music from Mogwai by visiting them on MySpace. You can purchase the soundtrack to Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait by clicking here .