The track's video was created within the Unreal Games Engine by director Sam Wiehl, who has previously collaborated with Ladytron, Forest Swords and the Valentino fashion house, and created a small first-person multi-level computer game for the song, which then formed the animations and narratives for the video.
Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite says:
"'Ritchie Sacramento's' title came from a misunderstanding a friend of ours had about how to say Ryuichi Sakamoto.
"The lyrics were inspired by a story Bob Nastanovich shared about his friend and bandmate David Berman who proclaimed "Rise Crystal Spear" as he threw a shovel at a sports car.
"The song is dedicated to all the musician friends we've lost over the years."
The track follows previous single
Dry Fantasy, a celestial song built around a
reverberating synth repetition.
The song is accompanied by a video directed by Vaj.Power which draws interspersing images of blossoming flowers with the gnarled surfaces of a distant planet.
As The Love Continues (released 19th February 2021) was originally planned to be recorded in America, but the pandemic led to a relocation to Worcestershire and with
producer Dave Fridmann separated by an ocean and appearing like an Orwellian oppressor.
This pandemic necessity was quickly routine, it also bought them a little more time.
Unable to perform the album for the time being, Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite hopes the music can take you from somewhere different to where you are:
"Unless you are somewhere really amazing and then why are you listening to some weird music like this?"
Mogwai have advanced without a plan since they were teenagers, there have been no secretive meetings to work out the master plan.
It is rare to hear a band that has been going for this long and have this many great albums behind them - ten records in and still no disappointments or mistaken creative left turns.
You may know what to expect, but you will never get the same.
Both
transcendent and surprising,
As The Love Continues shows that Mogwai are still offering solace from the mundane, supplying the soundtrack to whatever movie you are making in your head.