Rating: NNN
As an instrumental band, Scottish post-rockers Mogwai have always relied on a certain depth and dynamic to elevate their music above pretty background noise.
On their sixth album, the good ideas keep coming but occasionally risk becoming directionless. Not that a few half-baked progressions spell disaster for Hawk, a record that methodically moves from dreamy, lush, introspective numbers to tension and ultimately catharsis in the way Mogwai is close to perfecting. But they also manage to come up with a few new tricks, as on The Sun Smells Too Loud, with its rhythmic 4/4 stomp and Eno-esque synth washes elsewhere they revisit their post-metal leanings on Batcat and closer The Precipice.
