MOGWAI - Kin: Original Soundtrack LP

Label: Temporary Residence

Movie scoring has been good to Mogwai. Freed from the burden of having to create its own drama, the long-running Scottish group has learned the art of response; its work on Atomic and Les Revenants is a showcase for how bombast can age into stateliness and grace without losing its sense of power.

With its songs that loom like smouldering towers and enveloping hazes of electronic programming, KIN, the band’s score for Jonathan and Josh Baker’s apocalyptic pursuit film of the same name, splits the difference between the average late-period Mogwai record and its previous film work, and when it dodges the temptation toward the histrionic, suggests that its future might lie in the space between its two vocations. “Funeral Pyre” ignites slowly and progresses with great dignity, and the new-age pulse of “Donuts”’ soft phasing bursts convincingly into outright beauty. Yes, it is a long way from home, but KIN’s brightest moments suggest Mogwai is still on the right path.

FFO: Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor. ( )-era Sigur Rós.