- Critic score
- Publication
- By date
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Q MagazineThe Hawk Is Howling is similarly impressive [to "Mr. Beast"], the band's earlier experiments in noise more reined in, allowing a subtle and textured approach. [Oct 2008, p.149]
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UncutFine, but no surprises. [Oct 2008, p.101]
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Using a combination of brilliant textures and powerful, atypical chord progressions, Mogwai paint a picture equivalent to an auto-stereogram, popularized in those Magic Eye books 15 years ago. You almost need to loose your focus to let the music really sink in.
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When they work up a good buzz and growl ('Batcat') or hit a scrumptious riff ('The Sun Smells Too Loud'), Mogwai still take your breath away.
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Hawk makes marginal stylistic advances that it could stand to omit, and it lightly retreads stuff that needs no recapitulation.
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The Hawk Is Howling is just an ambiguous mixture of the band's past.
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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.
User score distribution:
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Positive: 22 out of 25
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Mixed: 3 out of 25
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Negative: 0 out of 25
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Mar 10, 2021
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May 13, 2011