Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling

Mogwai deliver a post-rock soup which skimps on spices and other exciting condiments, but leaves a warm, full and satisfying feeling.

Mogwai are known in the post-rock world for not being content with constructing simple walls of sound. This Scottish four-piece produce walls of sound complete with barbed wire and graffiti ranging from pretty flowers and psychedelic colours, to political mini-rants and straight up abuse. Happy Songs for Happy People brought the world of minimalist not-quite-rock music the beautiful ‘Golden Porsche’, whilst Come On Die Young served up rants against punk rock and ‘Puff Daddy/ANTICHRIST’.

The Hawk is Howling is no different. Which is good. Kind of. It’s Mogwai doing their thing, taking simple phrases and moving them through various crescendos and diminuendos, slowly elaborating on a main theme. It can be catchy (‘The Sun Smells Too Loud’), moody and threatening (‘Batcat’), or all of those, plus strangely rousing (‘I Love You, I’m going to Blow up your School’).

But therein lies the problem. If you have any of Mogwai’s albums then you’ve heard it all before. Mogwai’s latest adds nothing to the genre except another entrancing but ultimately only slightly above average disc.

Tracks such as ‘I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead’ are certainly captivating in terms of melody and dynamics, but if you’re looking for a post-rock band who are doing something new with their sound, then this isn’t the album for you.

But if you want an undemanding one-hour-long sonic voyage, or just love Mogwai and post-rock in general, then by all means go get it.

4 Stars

Pick: I Love You, I’m going to Blow up your School