Each track of Zidane has a slow pace, emphasizing each step and brow furrow with an inhuman magnitude.  Like a swaying giant, "Terrific Speech" features a sluggish guitar riff and somber drums while high-pitched mechanical noises wash the background.  "Terrific Speech 2" is lighter with similar drumming, but a clearer atmosphere and soft piano.  There's a slightly antagonistic feel to these two tracks, as if something disturbs Zidane, though the array of expressions is above all else: calm.

The opening track, "Black Spider" sets a reserved tone, perhaps shying away from overzealous energy that's already all-too-commonly associated with sports and that Mogwai is capable of unleashing.   A sparse drumbeat underlines glassy guitar - never rising above a cooled intensity.   The final track, "Black Spider 2" is 30-minute montage, featuring an icy sound similar to "Black Spider" for a few moments.  It then goes into silence, and awakes back into a fuzzy, echoed shell-noise that eventually gets pushed by ominous organs for about ten minutes.  The album then ends passive/aggressively on a distorted industrial current.  

For a soundtrack, this is successfully experimental, with a mood that goes hand-in-hand with the unusually mellow film technique that's highlighting such an austere figure.  There's no doubt that it's a smooth move by the Glaswegians, and this is far more intimate than a vast majority of movie soundtracks.  

-Ryan Specker
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