Mogwai – Earth Division EP

Word on the streets (well, the blogs then) was that this new EP was to herald something a little bit different from Glaswegian heavyweights Mogwai. In some respects, that’s true. Earth Division is comprised of four tracks of quite varying styles, all held together by heavy use of classical instrumentation.

There’s a certain narrative logic to the progression over repeated listens, from the gloomy piano-led opener Get to France, through the sparse, gorgeous Hound of Winter, to the epic, if somewhat messy, neo-classical electro-rock of Drunk and Crazy.

Hawk-eyed die-hards will be able to trace the strands of DNA to previous songs, meaning Earth Division is certainly a trip, just not quite a trailblazer. [Darren Carle]