Mogwai, as a band name, has always stood apart from other film-referencing handles—say, Sweep the Leg Johnny or Save Ferris—because it’s about more than simple pop-culture gimmickry. The Scotsmen’s music transforms placid soundscapes into eardrum-stressing infernos, much the way the sweet, furry Mogwai creatures metamorphosed into terrifying monsters in the ’80s movie Gremlins.
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At least, that’s what Mogwai has done in the past. Sixth proper LP The Hawk Is Howling finds the ’gwai guys floating in calm waters far more than riding tsunamis, disappointing considering the post-rockers’ all-time best tunes (see: “Mogwai Fear Satan” and “Christmas Steps”) achieve epic stature through those juxtapositions of serenity and ferocity. The new disc is long on tension but short on release; dramatic conclusions either arrive too late to do much damage (“I Love You, I’m Going to Blow Up Your School”) or never arrive at all, even when they seem to have been perfectly set up (“Thank You Space Expert”).
Leadoff cut “I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead” succeeds somewhat without going supernova, building from a smoldering slow-burn to a scalding, controlled campfire; and “Batcat” also mostly works, by chucking the preliminaries to jump into a violent abyss from the start. But overall, this Hawk doesn’t howl nearly enough, and when Mogwai gets cute with the electro-popish “The Sun Smells Too Loud,” it reminds us why—if given a choice—we’d much rather cuddle with the monster.
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