Scottish post-rockers Mogwai have announced plans for a massive 40-date world tour later this year following news of a new album. The tour begins at Festival No. 6 in Portmeirion, Wales on the 8th of September (on June 10th they play at Dark Mofo in Australia), with majority of the dates spread out from October to mid-December. The band has recently finished recording sessions with Dave Fridmann on their untitled (as far as the general public is concerned) upcoming album, whose previous work with Mogwai has been featured on their 1999 LP ‘Come On Die Young’ and 2000‘s ‘Rock Action’. The unnamed mystery album (when will you tell us the title, Mogwai, when?!) has been mastered at London’s Abbey Road Studios and will mark the band’s ninth full-length, following ‘Rave Tapes’, 2014’s critics’ darling. Mogwai were last taunting us with their haunting tunes last year with the release of the soundtrack ‘Atomic’ via Rock Action Records, an entirely instrumental album with titles like ‘U-235’ and ‘Pripyat’ alluding to the theme of the BBC documentary for which it soundtracked: ‘Atomic: Living In Dread And Promise‘.
Multi-instrumentalist for the band, Barry Burns, said at the time of it’s release: “It’s weird because this one turned out like a proper album. We didn’t expect it to even be released – but once we realised that these were proper songs that sounded like us and didn’t just sound like a soundtrack, we thought we may as well release it.” Also in 2016 Mogwai provided three tracks for the soundtrack to the Leonardo DiCaprio/Fisher Stevens’ documentary “Before The Flood” which focused on exploring the impact of man-made global warming. Guitarist Stuart Braithwaite has meanwhile been keeping busy with his side-project, the British alt-rock supergroup Minor Victories. The band, whose self-titled debut was released last June, also features vocalist Rachel Goswell of Slowdive, guitarist Justin Lockey of Editors, and bassist James Lockey of filmmaking duo Hand Held Cine Club. Give their horn-heavy ‘Ether’ a listen, while you’re patiently (or impatiently like I am) awaiting news of the title and release date of their ninth album, and be sure to check out all their 2017 tour dates below.
9/08 – Portmeirion, Wales – Festival No. 6
10/10 – Oslo, Norway – Rockefeller
10/11 – Stockholm, Sweden – Nobelberget
10/12 – Malmo, Sweden – KB
10/13 – Copenhagen, Denmark – Vega
10/14 – Berlin, Germany – Columbiahalle
10/16 – Hamburg, Germany – Docks
10/17 – Cologne, Germany – E-Werk
10/18 – Lille, France – Aeronef
10/20 – Brussels, Belgium – AB
10/22 – Utrecht, Netherlands – Tivoli Vredenburg Ronda
10/23 – Paris, France – Grand Rex
10/25 – Madrid, Spain – Riviera
10/26 – Basel, Switzerland – Reithalle @ Kaserne
10/27 – Milan, Italy – Fabrique
10/28 – Rome, Italy – Atlantico
10/29 – Bologna, Italy – Estragon
10/31 – Prague, Czech Republic – Roxy
11/01 – Vienna, Austria – Arena
11/02 – Leipzig, Germany – Täubchenthal
11/03 – Munich, Germany – Backstage
11/20 – San Diego, CA – Observatory N. Park
11/21 – Los Angeles, CA – Balesco Theater
11/22 – San Francisco, CA – Regency Ballroom
11/23 – Portland, OR – Roseland Theater
11/24 – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
11/25 – Vancouver, British Columbia – Commodore Ballroom
11/28 – Denver, CO – Ogden Theatre
11/30 – Omaha, NE – The Waiting Room
12/01 – Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue
12/02 – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
12/03 – Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre
12/05 – Toronto, Ontario – Danforth Music Hall
12/06 – Montreal, Quebec – Corona Theatre
12/07 – Boston, MA – Royale
12/08 – New York, NY – Terminal 5
12/09 – Philadelphia, PA – Theatre of Living Arts
12/10 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
12/15 – London, England – O2 Academy Brixton
12/16 – Glasgow, Scotland – The SSE Hydro
Sarah Medeiros