A few months ago The Quietus was pleased to be able to spend an evening in the Queen Elisabeth Hall on the South Bank. After a brilliant set of lager and love gone awry from Quietus sex columnist Mr Aidan Moffat (more on which next week), Mogwai made their first London appearance since October last year. As well as choice cuts from their ten year career, Mogwai used the venue’s brilliant PA to preview a selection of tracks from their forthcoming new long-player The Hawk Is Howling. Students of avian life might take umbrage over the suggestion that the hawk is capable of a howl, but no matter – for the tracks unveiled suggest that Mogwai are back to their plexus-crushing best.
The Hawk Is Howling is out on September 2nd , via Wall of Sound (which makes Mogwai the interesting labelmates of Grace Jones) and is to be preceded by a similarly fauna-defying single ’Batcat’, a track that made for one of the highlights of the Queen Elisabeth Hall set. B-sides for ’Batcat’ are ‘Stupid Prick Gets Chased By The Polis And Loses His Slut Girlfriend’ and the more simply evil ’Devil Rides’, the latter featuring vocals from Roky Erickson from 13th Floor Elevators.
Mogwai are gearing up for this autumn of activity by giving away a free track via the Wall of Sound website. You can download ’The Sun Smells Too Loud’ here by clicking on the eye of the bird. Orninthologists among you will note that the bird depicted is a white headed eagle, not a hawk. Might we suggest the goshawk would be more appropriate for this track of insistent melody and restrained menace?
