via BBCIs Atomic Mogwai's new album or a soundtrack to a documentary? The answer is both. While technically, the release is an audio accompaniment to the BBC documentary Atomic: Living In Dread And Promise, the band's distinctive drone embedded itself so deeply into these ten songs that not only does it stand up as a proper album, it's also some of the best work in the band's two decades of existence.We caught up with Mogwai's multi-instrumentalist Barry Burns to discuss how the project came about, what the feeling is like toward nuclear power back home, and why Atomic is so important to the band's members. We also discussed the band's upcoming tour where they will be accompanying the film live in cities like Tokyo and Osaka. As Burns expresses at one point, he's not predicting these shows as a "fun fest"… but that's sort of the point.Noisey: What drew you to this project and how was it conceptualized?
Barry Burns: Well, the BBC do these series of shows and they always have a different theme and they wanted us to the music for this one from the very beginning, even before they had a director on board. We got approached by them and fancied the idea of it so we agreed. We're always for something to do that isn't the usual write/record/tour kind of thing, and to be honest if it's anything that's interesting to us as a band then we'll probably give it a go.Does this topic feel especially relevant now? Because I feel like every time I turn on the news, it seems like the world is ending.
[Laughs] It does seem that way, yeah. Also Scotland has got the UK nuclear arsenal 25 minutes away from Glasgow, and we're not so happy about it. So it's something that's quite close to home.Have there been a lot of protests in your area?
There's been a permanent camp outside of the submarine base since it was built which was quite a long time ago and it's always there, so there's always opposition to the government. The Scottish National Party is anti-nuclear submarines and weapons so it's quite a big deal, but we don't seem to have much of a say in it. The thing is that we wouldn't even be allowed to use [nuclear weapons] unless the American government says so. You guys really have your finger on the button.So how did you approach the music this project, logistically?
Well, we didn't have any of the film at all when we did this, we were just given a really detailed direction and storyline of it, which was in three parts and were told what the mood of it would be like. Then we brought in songs we hadn't used before from old demos or would write stuff on the spot and then send it to Mark Cousins, the director, every couple of days. He would let us know if any of it was suitable, and quite a lot of it was It was smooth and went quite quickly; I think it only took about 12 days in the studio to do it, including mixing. We had quite a lot of music that was almost ready to be used for something and a lot of it fit [this film].Were you planning on using any of this material for Mogwai's next proper album?
I suppose so. It's weird because this one turned out like a proper album. We didn't expect it to even be released but once we realized that these were proper songs that sounded like us and didn't just sound like a soundtrack, we thought we may as well release it.Do you think people can enjoy Atomic even if they haven't seen the accompanying film?
Yeah, I think it also makes sense without the context of the film. I remember listening to soundtracks when I was younger and some of the songs were really short or just little bits that weren't really that interesting and probably shouldn't have been released, so for us to release it this had to be something that stands on its own.At the end of May, you're performing Atomic twice in Japan. Considering the content of this performance, what do you think those shows will be like?
I'm quite nervous about that. It's going to be really strange to go play at the place where the bomb went off. I don't think it'll be bad actually, but it'll be a bit weird. [Pauses] I'm not expecting it to be a fun fest, I'll put it that way.It’s interesting because you don't hear about that much the atomic bomb, but it changed the world in so many ways, and it wasn't really that long ago.
No, it wasn't. I can remember being a kid and my mom and dad sort of trying to explain what was happening. I can't remember exactly where it was but I remember we watched all these public broadcast things about what to do if there's a bomb and stuff like that, and there were tons of films and animations made about it, so the idea was stuck in your mind, and when you were younger, you'd be quite scared.Every Mogwai album is a progression from the one before it. Do you view Atomic as a logical progression in your catalog or is it something different?
At first, I viewed it as a soundtrack for this TV show, but I think it also shows the direction that the next album might go in. But then again, you never really know until you get together in Glasgow and start playing the songs, so it's quite difficult to predict what the next one's going to be like.The album is obviously instrumental, but do you feel that like the film, there's sort of a story arc to the music as well?
Yeah, I feel like we did that. There's not really much of a narration thing going on in the film. There's a few interviews with people in the street and quite a lot of that propaganda stuff, but otherwise it would just be a silent film, so the music creates a bit of arc for it. [The album is in] a slightly different order from the film but it still works.Do you feel like there's that you ideally would want the audiences to take away from these performances?
Well, we want it to be obviously entertaining as a live show, but I think in this case, we are somewhat secondary to the subject matter because the subject matter is really important and dangerous. [The film] has its lighter moments where you get to learn about the benefits of nuclear medical applications and stuff like that but for the most part I think it comes across as very anti-nuclear power—and I think everyone in the band agrees with that.
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Barry Burns: Well, the BBC do these series of shows and they always have a different theme and they wanted us to the music for this one from the very beginning, even before they had a director on board. We got approached by them and fancied the idea of it so we agreed. We're always for something to do that isn't the usual write/record/tour kind of thing, and to be honest if it's anything that's interesting to us as a band then we'll probably give it a go.Does this topic feel especially relevant now? Because I feel like every time I turn on the news, it seems like the world is ending.
[Laughs] It does seem that way, yeah. Also Scotland has got the UK nuclear arsenal 25 minutes away from Glasgow, and we're not so happy about it. So it's something that's quite close to home.Have there been a lot of protests in your area?
There's been a permanent camp outside of the submarine base since it was built which was quite a long time ago and it's always there, so there's always opposition to the government. The Scottish National Party is anti-nuclear submarines and weapons so it's quite a big deal, but we don't seem to have much of a say in it. The thing is that we wouldn't even be allowed to use [nuclear weapons] unless the American government says so. You guys really have your finger on the button.
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Well, we didn't have any of the film at all when we did this, we were just given a really detailed direction and storyline of it, which was in three parts and were told what the mood of it would be like. Then we brought in songs we hadn't used before from old demos or would write stuff on the spot and then send it to Mark Cousins, the director, every couple of days. He would let us know if any of it was suitable, and quite a lot of it was It was smooth and went quite quickly; I think it only took about 12 days in the studio to do it, including mixing. We had quite a lot of music that was almost ready to be used for something and a lot of it fit [this film].Were you planning on using any of this material for Mogwai's next proper album?
I suppose so. It's weird because this one turned out like a proper album. We didn't expect it to even be released but once we realized that these were proper songs that sounded like us and didn't just sound like a soundtrack, we thought we may as well release it.Do you think people can enjoy Atomic even if they haven't seen the accompanying film?
Yeah, I think it also makes sense without the context of the film. I remember listening to soundtracks when I was younger and some of the songs were really short or just little bits that weren't really that interesting and probably shouldn't have been released, so for us to release it this had to be something that stands on its own.
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I'm quite nervous about that. It's going to be really strange to go play at the place where the bomb went off. I don't think it'll be bad actually, but it'll be a bit weird. [Pauses] I'm not expecting it to be a fun fest, I'll put it that way.It’s interesting because you don't hear about that much the atomic bomb, but it changed the world in so many ways, and it wasn't really that long ago.
No, it wasn't. I can remember being a kid and my mom and dad sort of trying to explain what was happening. I can't remember exactly where it was but I remember we watched all these public broadcast things about what to do if there's a bomb and stuff like that, and there were tons of films and animations made about it, so the idea was stuck in your mind, and when you were younger, you'd be quite scared.Every Mogwai album is a progression from the one before it. Do you view Atomic as a logical progression in your catalog or is it something different?
At first, I viewed it as a soundtrack for this TV show, but I think it also shows the direction that the next album might go in. But then again, you never really know until you get together in Glasgow and start playing the songs, so it's quite difficult to predict what the next one's going to be like.The album is obviously instrumental, but do you feel that like the film, there's sort of a story arc to the music as well?
Yeah, I feel like we did that. There's not really much of a narration thing going on in the film. There's a few interviews with people in the street and quite a lot of that propaganda stuff, but otherwise it would just be a silent film, so the music creates a bit of arc for it. [The album is in] a slightly different order from the film but it still works.Do you feel like there's that you ideally would want the audiences to take away from these performances?
Well, we want it to be obviously entertaining as a live show, but I think in this case, we are somewhat secondary to the subject matter because the subject matter is really important and dangerous. [The film] has its lighter moments where you get to learn about the benefits of nuclear medical applications and stuff like that but for the most part I think it comes across as very anti-nuclear power—and I think everyone in the band agrees with that.