Some albums need a centrepiece, a standout track that encourages repeated listening and contextualises the surrounding songs. Don’t Believe the Fife could play the part here - everything from a weakly punned title to its move from moody atmospherics to cathartic rock climax feels definitively Mogwai. Instead, it illustrates how poorly structured the rest of the album is. Songs meander between uninvolving minimalism and introverted stadium prog without raising any of the necessary joy or transcendence. Old Poisons raises some of the 90s indie furies the band seems to have outgrown, but elsewhere music that’s supposedly sparse ends up feeling hollow.
