CD Review: Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling

L’uscita di 'The Hawk Is Howling' dei Mogwai ci ha indubbiamente colto un po’ di sorpresa!! Primo; perché non si avevano notizie in merito. Secondo; ci si chiedeva se i cinque di Glasgow avessero ancora qualcosa da dire. Il loro cosiddetto post rock è stato infatti sviscerato in tutte le salse assumendo le forme più svariate diventando oramai una realtà ben consolidata.

Ma dal primo ascolto il passato ritorna violentemente. La freschezza di 'Young Team' e la maturità compositiva di Zidane si fondono perfettamente in dieci suite altalenanti tra calme rilassanti e sognanti 'Local Authority' e frenetiche accelerazioni, sporcate addirittura da chitarre sfacciatamente metalliche e tirate all’esasperazione 'Batcat'. Poco da dire insomma, ancora un bel disco.

Track Listings

1. I'm Jim Morrison I'm Dead
2. Batcat
3. Daphne And The Brain
4. Local Authority
5. Sun Smells Too Loud
6. Kings Meadow
7. I Love You I'm Going To Blow Up Your School
8. Scotland's Shame
9. Thank You Space Expert
10. Precipice


Artist: Mogwai
Title: The Hawk Is Howling
Genre: Rock
Release Year: 2008
Type: New Release
Audio: CD

Official Web site

Review:
The latest from Glasgow's post-rock pioneers expounds on the melodic beauty of 2006's Mr Beast. I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead - a requiem of lost promise but few regrets - sets the mood, the backward guitar notes slipping and sliding like the Doors singer in his final bath. Masters of the soft/loud dynamic, the band create a wall of sound that reaches beyond the tumultuous guitars, discovering twinkling optimism in fragile instrumentation and sensitive synths. The lyric-free songs are awe-inspiring, yet accessible. The unapologetically heavy rocker Batcat sounds like Loop slugging it out with Slayer, but it's a rare moment of aggression, like the vengeful noise of The Precipice. The Sun Smells Too Loud has more than a whiff of pop about it, and Scotland's Shame sparkles like light bouncing off broken glass. Not so much a progression, then, as an hour-long polishing of Mogwai's new aesthetic.