My Father My King [EP, Single]

Mogwai | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (October 23, 2001)
• Original Release Date: 2001
• Number of Discs: 1
• Format: EP, Single
• Label: Matador Records
• ASIN: B00005OM58
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #264,881 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. My Father My King

Editorial Reviews

This Matador Records E.P. is a single 20-minute track basedon a simple Jewish melody taught to the band by Arthur Baker. Produced by Steve Albini. 2001.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Avinu Malkeinu, January 12, 2002

By 

Noah Green (New York, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: My Father My King (Audio CD)

This is the song that Mogwai would play during the encores of shows on last year's tour. They've said in interviews that they took the melody from "Avinu Malkeinu," a prayer from the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur. Like most Yom Kippur prayers, it is a prayer for forgiveness. The title, translated, means "Our Father Our King" - not sure why they gave the song a different title.

This is a stunning piece of music. The majesty of Mogwai is on full display here. The song is built around three simple melodies, two of which come from the actual prayer. It starts out quietly and builds, adding layer upon layer of sound, then stripping away the layers and reconfiguring them - all the while keeping the same strong core.

I wavered on whether to give five stars or four, but ultimately went with five. First of all, I'm biased: I'm a huge Mogwai fan, I'm Jewish, Avinu Malkeinu is an extremely meaningful prayer to me, and I've seen the song live and have been blown away by it. However, I have to say that clocking in at 22 minutes, it does get a little long and repetitive toward the end. And really this EP could have used one or two more tracks. But these are minor issues. If you are a fan of Mogwai, you have to buy this record. These four Scotsmen - none of whom, to my knowledge, is Jewish - use their music to powerfully and successfully evoke the sense of remorse, humility, and ultimate faith in redemption that Avinu Malkeinu is about.

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mogwai Fear Satan, November 4, 2001

By 

Scott Richardson (Chicago, IL USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: My Father My King (Audio CD)

I saw Mogwai in May and they played their usual blistering, ear-shattering, heart-palpitating set. It was nothing short of fantastic. As their final encore, they played a twenty-minute piece that made their previous explorations into sonic terror sound like nursery rhymes. This is it.

"My Father My King" starts off quietly and unassumingly enough, but builds into a frenzy of guitar-based melodic chaos within the first five minutes. The next couple of minutes bring it all back down to let you catch your breath before Glasgow's kings of sonic martial arts give you another swift kick to the ears.

Despite there only being one track, this is perhaps my favorite Mogwai release to date. Harmoniously anarchic, frighteningly beautiful, this is one record you don't want to miss. Shalom.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Mogwai have mastered some sort of evil sorcery..., May 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: My Father My King (Audio CD)

...And they are using it to transform their instruments into dinosaurs halfway through their songs. "My Father My King" begins with a slow, eerie Jewish melody which over the course of the song mutates into a raging, firebreathing torrent of noise. As each instrument is added the tension builds and flows between quiet and loud, until the sound just overflows and peters out in a rabble of pedalled static. Epic, frightening and livid, this is the defining sound of Mogwai crammed into a single song. A nice one to listen to in the dark by yourself, or when you're in a particularly vindictive frame of mind.

A note: Get the Australian version if you can, it comes with 2 live 'hidden' tracks: "Helicon 1" and "You Don't Know Jesus".