''The Hawk Is Howling'' is the sixth studio album by the Scottish

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation ...

band

Mogwai Mogwai () are a Scottish post-rock band, formed in 1995 in Glasgow. The band consists of Stuart Braithwaite (guitar, vocals), Barry Burns (guitar, piano, synthesizer, vocals), Dominic Aitchison (bass guitar), and Martin Bulloch (drums). ...

, released on 22 September 2008, by

Wall of Sound The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of sessio ...

, Play It Again Sam and

Matador A bullfighter (or matador) is a performer in the activity of bullfighting. ''Torero'' () or ''toureiro'' (), both from Latin ''taurarius'', are the Spanish and Portuguese words for bullfighter and describe all the performers in the activit ...

in the UK, Europe, and the US, respectively. It was released in Australia by Spunk Records on 27 September 2008. It is their first album of exclusively

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instr ...

songs, since their earlier albums have all had vocals (singing or spoken word) on some tracks. The album peaked at number 35 in the

UK Album Charts The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

and 97 on the ''Billboard'' 200.

Writing and recording

The album was recorded and produced by Andy Miller at Chem19 Studios in

Hamilton, South Lanarkshire Hamilton ( sco, Hamiltoun; gd, Baile Hamaltan ) is a large town in South Lanarkshire, Scotland. It serves as the main administrative centre of the South Lanarkshire council area. It sits south-east of Glasgow, south-west of Edinburgh and no ...

, Scotland and mixed by Gareth Jones at Castle of Doom Studios in

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated pop ...

, Scotland, between September 2007 and March 2008. The album was the first time in ten years that the band had worked with Andy Miller, and at Chem19 Studios, since recording the song "Small Children in the Background" for the '' No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew)'' EP in May 1998. Several new compositions were debuted at a show for the Triptych Festival at Tramway in Glasgow in April 2008 — "The Precipice", "I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School", "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead", "Thank You Space Expert", "Batcat" and "Scotland's Shame". In 2012 it was awarded a gold certification from the

Independent Music Companies Association The Independent Music Companies Association (IMPALA), originally the Independent Music Publishers and Labels Association, is a non-profit trade association established in 2000 to help European independent record labels represent their agenda ...

, which indicated sales of at least 75,000 copies throughout Europe.

Track listing

All tracks composed by Mogwai. The limited edition version contains the documentation "Adelia, I Want To Love: A Film About Mogwai by Vincent Moon and Teresa Eggers", the Dominic Hailstone-directed "Batcat" video and the video "Batcat Animation" created by Fernando Alberto Mena Rojas.

Personnel

;Mogwai * Dominic Aitchison –

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and s ...

Stuart Braithwaite Stuart Leslie Braithwaite (born 10 May 1976) is a Scottish musician, singer and songwriter. He is the guitarist of post-rock band Mogwai, with whom he has recorded ten studio albums. He is also a member of the British alternative rock supergrou ...

–

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected string ...

* Martin Bulloch –

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks ...

Barry Burns Barry Burns is a Scottish musician best known for his work with post-rock band Mogwai. Early life Burns went to Cardinal Newman High School in Bellshill before enrolling with the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama in Glasgow, taking up ...

– guitar, keyboard * John Cummings – guitar ;Additional personnel * James Aparicio – mixing assistance * Nadia Bradley – photography and design * Tony Doogan – recording of "The Sun Smells Too Loud" * Gareth Jones – mixing * Andy Miller – producer * Andi Whitelock – recording of bowed mandolin on "Scotland's Shame"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawk Is Howling, The 2008 albums Mogwai albums Matador Records albums PIAS Recordings albums Wall of Sound (record label) albums Instrumental rock albums