Now in the shop: Mogwai – Atomic on vinyl.

Released in 2016, Atomic was created as the soundtrack to the BBC documentary Atomic: Living in Dread and Promise, which explores how the nuclear age shaped modern life through fear, power, and uneasy optimism. That tension is central to the album itself: the music mirrors the documentary’s shifting moods, from ominous, slow-building dread to brief moments of wonder and calm. Built from a mix of new recordings and reworked tracks from across Mogwai’s catalogue, Atomic feels deliberately restrained and heavy, leaning into atmosphere rather than big climaxes. Formed in Glasgow in 1995, Mogwai use their post-rock minimalism here to give the album a stark, cinematic weight that works just as well on its own as it does alongside the film.