Every Country’s Sun is the ninth album from the post-rock group Mogwai. This is the first album following the departure of the band’s guitarist, John Cummings, and the results can be seen. This album has a more stripped-down feel to it, focusing more on layered ensembles than the more bombastic guitar work of previous albums. In much of the start of the album the group sounds more indie pop than ever before, including strong synth ballads (“Brain Sweeties”) and a rare and very well delivered vocal melody on the track “Party in the Dark.” That being said, the band also features the grizzled rock of their earlier albums in “Battered at a Scramble,” featuring distorted guitar and organs similar to what you would hear on albums such as Hardcore Will Never Die But You Will. Overall, the album does a very good job of appealing to both long term and newer fans, in a way that is far more cohesive than many of their recent LPs.
-Mason Cardwell