Mogwai - Happy Songs For Happy People

Of all the bands emerging in the mid-'90s who were labeled "post-rock," Scotland's Mogwai always seemed to be one of the closest to (gasp) an actual rock band. While their third album ROCK ACTION showed them edging ever closer to rockdom, with more conventional song structures and vocals, the follow-up is a hearty about-face. Happy Songs For Happy People is one of the band's more atmospheric efforts.

Whereas the band's early sound was often defined by angular, hypnotic guitar riffs a la Slint, Happy People is full of dreamy, ambient electronic textures that wouldn't sound out of place on, say, a Spiritualized album. There is the occasional vocal, but voices (like everything else) are used purely as texture here. The tracks occasionally build to powerful crescendos, but for the most part, this is a mesmerizing, meditative effort suggestive of autumnal introspection and long walks through twilight forests. Is that post-rock enough for you?