Interview by Paul Salfen
Members: Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass), Martin Bulloch (drums)
Mogwai are a band from Glasgow formed in 1995. They compose lengthy, mostly instrumental guitar-based pieces in the style of post-rock, usually focused around the elaboration of a single theme, and are known traditionally for their quiet/loud dynamic, defined bass riffs, and an eminent ambient sound, sometimes dark and sometimes grand. Although frequently referred to as post-rock, the band have revealed in interviews that they despise this categorization, insisting that their sound bears little resemblance to pioneers of the genre, such as Tortoise. Their work can be seen on projects such as: Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise (2015), Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise (2019- 2020), and now the Apple TV+ series Black Bird (2022).
SYNOPSIS: Inspired by actual events, when high school football hero and decorated policeman’s son Jimmy Keene (Taron Egerton) is sentenced to 10 years in a minimum security prison, he is given the choice of a lifetime — enter a maximum-security prison for the criminally insane and befriend suspected serial killer Larry Hall (Paul Walter Hauser), or stay where he is and serve his full sentence with no possibility of parole. Keene quickly realizes his only way out is to elicit a confession and find out where the bodies of several young girls are buried before Hall’s appeal goes through. But is this suspected killer telling the truth? Or is it just another tale from a serial liar? This dramatic and captivating story subverts the crime genre by enlisting the help of the very people put behind bars to solve its mysteries.
