Post-rock for the lonely island by the collective around Mogwai guitarist Stuart Braithwaite.
Stuart Braithwaite is a busy man. He published his memoirs last year, his main band Mogwai regularly releases albums and soundtracks (most recently for the crime thriller Black Bird), and now he has a new supergroup. The guitarist already has experience with this, in 2016 he recorded a fantastic album with Rachel Goswell from Slowdive as Minor Victories.
This time the project is called Silver Moth, besides Braithwaite his wife, the musician Elisabeth Elektra, and five other musicians from bands like Abrasive Trees or Burning House are also there. The resulting album’s title, BLACK BAY, is also the name of the Outer Hebrides studio where the collective recorded the six lengthy tracks in just four days. The tight schedule is noticeable: Many songs are obviously based on jams, usually a single guitar riff is the linchpin, regardless of whether the song is five or 15 minutes long.
But the songs unfold a hypnotic effect, in the interplay of deafening Mogwai-style post-rock, Elisabeth Elektra and Evi Vine’s shy vocals and talk-talk-like airy folk structures. Then, when the sea laps at the beach in “Gaelic Psalms” while strings swell menacingly, you think you’re with the band on the remote Scottish island.
Author: Elias Pietsch