"As The Love Continues" Hits No. 1 In England

With their new album "As The Love Continues", Mogwai have achieved something that no post-rock band has managed before: they have landed at number 1 hit in the British charts with the record.

Last Friday, the post-rock pioneers got a nice surprise. After it had already become apparent the day before that it could happen, "As The Love Continues" was crowned the number 1 album.

On their Instagram account, they thanked their fans:

"Thank you to everyone who bought As The Love Continues this week. It's incredible that it is the number one record in the UK. We're so grateful for everyone's support!"

Besides Abbey Road Studios and post-rock projects from all over the world, countless fans gratulated them.

Mogwai and the post-rock miracle

It's like a small miracle that "our beloved music niche" has produced a number 1 album. Of course, you could say something like, "we don't want mainstream in our intimate clique". However, I think we should be pleased that an alternative band has made it into the charts again. It's a triumph for good taste.

And let's be honest: Especially these days, we all desperately need something stable that we can rely on. And that's exactly what Mogwai offer us: shockingly good music since 1995. The best thing about it is: it's best to listen to it loud without necessarily having to dance in groups. After all, that is forbidden at the moment, though.

Instrumental post-rock – the music of the introverts hits the pulse of our times. Between lockdowns and party bans, it has arrived in the middle of our society. Dreaming away alone at home with headphones is the new cool.

Post-rock gets more understandable

With "As The Love Continues", Mogwai have managed to make "our cosmos" a bit more understandable. They act as a babel fish between the loud and fast world outside and those quiet people who would rather nod knowingly than give long lectures. Who knows: maybe they will manage to make life a little bit more bearable for all of us.

They certainly won't have triggered the shrill flashing mainstream hype about post-rock that some of us fear so much. And if it puts a few pennies in the pockets of some of the terribly underrated bands that "we" love so much, that's a wonderful side effect, I think.

Should more people listen to post-rock?

I want to quote Mark Owen from We Lost The Sea. He answered my interview question, "Should more people listen to post-rock?" like this:

"Yes, please buy our records so I can keep touring! As Phoebe Bridgers says, "the only thing worse than touring is not touring. "Insincerity though, I think a lot of people listen to post-rock without even knowing they do. Many movies, TV shows etc., are using post-rock music, and people are consuming without actively knowing they are. If we can make five per cent of those people aware of the bands they hear, then life would look very different for many bands."

I got a similar response from Lost in Kiev:

"Yes. In the way that post-rock dive into your soul to make you feel powerful things and for this, everyone should be a post-rocker!"

Jakob from Oh Hiroshima told me.

"Sure! People should listen to whatever they want, but there are probably a lot of people out there that would appreciate the genre a lot if they just gave it a shot."

"As The Love Continues" reflects the zeitgeist

In the past, alternative bands have made it into the charts every few years. Well-known examples here include bands like Oasis, Blur and Pulp, whose overnight success kick-started the Brit-rock (pop) era. It was similar to Nirvanas success and the grunge scene. Bands that had been making music for many years suddenly emerged from the underground without warning and attracted millions of fans. Before them, it was artists like Lou Reed or Bob Dylan.

All these musicians have one thing in common: they have managed to reflect the zeitgeist exactly with their songs. Mogwai have managed to do that again with "As The Love Continues" in 2021 – without using any words.

You want to know what the album is like? For me, it is clearly one of the best Mogwai have released so far. I can only advise you to listen to it. Otherwise, you might miss the record of the year.