Album Review – Mogwai – The Hawk is Howling
For over a decade Mogwai have been a leader in the atmospheric rock movement. Come On Die Young was a pivotal moment in the genre. As their popularity has increased so has their use electronics and larger scale epics, something that on the surface seems like an attempt to delve into a more experimental format. Yet, this has fallen flat of late for the Scottish act. There is something uninspired about their use of electronics and their formulaic albums.
The Hawk is Howling shares has much in common with their last full length Mr. Beast. The opening tracks reach back into their stockade of influences to remind listeners that they listen to everything, and metal is just as much an influence as anything else. “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead” starts off with some crushing atmosphere’s laid under a glacial piano line, which transforms into something much heavier with over distorted guitars that verge on noise rock. The difficult thing about the album is that it’s the same Mogwai it’s always been, there is not drive to create intricate guitar licks or show off their chops, it’s simple music and a lot of it is really good, but it never lasts very long. The grand build-up of “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead” begins to wear as there is more crescendo through the bridge than could possibly be interesting.
MP3: Mogwai – “I’mJim Morrison, I’m Dead”
The track leads directly into “Batcat” which takes the metal influence up a notch but feels uninspired. It seems as though it was worked over too much in the studio and lacks the raw energy of previous recordings. Even more disappointing is the gorgeous “The Sun Smells Too Loud,” which toys with a happy-go-lucky guitar lick throughout it’s seven minute run time, adding a wispy synth to the mix that just drags on, with little inspiration or drive.
Mogwai have become a caricature of themselves. Much of the album is solid, it’s entirely listenable, but it never goes beyond that. For a band that changed the landscape at one point, that created surprising LPs that were more than a group of stoners toying with a melodic idea for ten minutes. The Hawk is Howling sounds as though they are burdened by their own expectations of what experimental rock should be and what Mogwai should be. Being dynamic has become the name of the game, with uber-loud “Batcat” to the nearly inaudible “I Love You, I’m Going to Blow Up Your School” they have drilled that game, and it is now little more than that, a game. Hawk has the makings of a great album, but it fails to reach the heights it seems to desire.
