Amazon.co.uk Reviews
Mogwai's slow-shifting, meteoric post-rock might have never earnt them a place on the back-of-the-nets montage on Match Of The Day, but their soundtrack to
Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait suggests that for this band, football boasts a deeper emotional palette than the Lightning Seeds could ever hope to evoke. Truthfully, it beggars belief it's taken Mogwai so long to reach the rarefied sphere of movie soundtracker; their gleaming, glittering instrumentals are big and beautiful, like a glacier or a blue whale. But supplying the score to Turner Prize artist Douglas Gordon's match-long portrait of French footballer Zinédine Zidane, is probably a subject somewhat closer to their hearts. Lilting and ponderous, it boasts little of the fireworks that this band have been known for: far from the anger its name suggests, "Wake Up and Go Berserk" is a neat excursion into serene ambience, all finger-picked semi-acoustic guitars and padded sticks, while "It Would Have Happened Anyway" adds that crucial tension, perhaps a product of the pre-penalty kick. Mogwai's spirit has soften in recent years, but with
Zidane, the boys done good: call it a "Nessun Dorma" for the experimental rock set.
--Louis Pattison
Description
For its score to ZIDANE: A 21ST CENTURY PORTRAIT, a documentary on the French football (soccer) player Zinedine Zidane,the Scottish post-rock act Mogwai unveiled a set of largelyimprovised, guitar-driven instrumental pieces. Standing in sharp contrast to the uncharacteristically brief and dense songs on Mogwai's preceding album, MR. BEAST, the expansive tracks on ZIDANE (see the wistful "Black Spider" and the beautiful "7:25") echo the slowly drifting numbers on the group's breakthrough outing, COME ON DIE YOUNG. While not an essential part of the Mogwai discography, ZIDANE does showcase the band's skill at crafting mesmerizing minimalist pieces, and, like Explosions in the Sky's Friday NIGHT LIGHTS soundtrack, it proves an unusually thoughtful and serene backdrop for a sports-oriented film.
![Zidane: A 21st Century Portrait [DVD] [2006]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41VK1A0F79L._SL500_SS90_.jpg)
