If there were an award for most misleading album title of the year, Happy Music For Happy People would win it hands down. Still, while the songs on Mogwai's fourth long-player aren't exactly cheerful, they're far more accessible than what we've come to expect from the enigmatic Scottish post-rockers. No meandering, impenetrable epics here - instead they've refined their sound into a series of sweet melodies, which start out gently before exploding into pulsating walls of guitar noise. While there are some muffled vocals, it's largely instrumental - the idea presumably being to allow listeners to impose their own interpretations on these hypnotic and haunting soundscapes. After years of critical mockery, it looks as if it's finally time to take Mogwai seriously - this is a truly compelling piece of work.

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