Mogwai – The Hawk is Howling
The Hawk is Howling – Mogwai
By Chris Peken
How can you not love an album that begins with a track called I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead‘ The beauty of being an instrumental band is that if it doesn’t have to be sung, then a song title can be anything that takes the bands fancy, and Mogwai’s becomes an extension of the band’s sense of humour as much as anything, and at seven minites of slowly building from fragile beauty to slow-core climax this one is a cracker. The test for Mogwai has always been to avoid the obvious: song structures, instrumentation and arrangements need to suprise the hardened fan and The Hawk is Howling delivers variations on the Mogwai theme beautifully. More powerful than their last few offerings – the blunt guitar assault of Batcat being particularly brutal – they also offer up the poppy The Sun Smells Too Loud, while The Heathers’ quoting I Love You, I’m Going to Blow Up Your School teases, taking a full three minutes before a hint of the rythm section arrives and another two before launching into the inevitabe explosion. Massive and glorious, Mogwai at their peak.
****
