Mogwai

Revolving

By Kyle Lemmon with Photos by Steve Gullick

10.20.08

Whenever there’s a sunset, on the opposite side of the skyline there’s something quite magical happening. I like to call it the “sunset’s shadow,” but the real scientific term eludes me (I’m no meteorologist folks). The vivid oranges, reds, and yellows of the west are counterbalanced with darker and diffused shades of blue and purple in the east. Where everyone tends to pay attention to the bombast of the main draw, I spend my twilight swiveling my head.

As I sat down to talk with Stuart Braithwaite, the guitarist, bassist, and co-founder (et al.) of the seminal Scottish post-rock band Mogwai, my mind kept drifting back to that image. You could make an argument that the persistently relevant quintet’s mix of vivid shoegaze, muted art rock, and almost operatic swathes of guitar distortion make Mogwai’s new album, The Hawk is Howling, an aural representation of that sunset. The dark reds could easily encapsulate their cochlea-punishing concerts.

Mogwai’s sixth release doesn’t pander to populist opinions and in that sense, they do their fair share of swiveling as well. When I talked with Braithwaite he was congenial to the last and very content with the new cadre of songs that his bandmate, Barry Burns cheekily calls, “dreamy ballads about forbidden love gone awry, one minute pointless instrumentals and spoken word about the future of the music industry in India.”

For the moodiness that Mogwai’s music may evoke, Braithwaite discusses his recent regrets about calling bands like Sigur Ros “plagiarists” and condemning Blur, and the backstory behind their sixth album’s curious title in a laidback manner. His warm Scottish brogue often falls into tiny fits of laughter when discussing the future. “We’re very lucky to be in the position we are right now. People would give their right arm to do what we do.” Hopefully, Mogwai’s future is full of more musical sunsets.

So, how has your day been so far?

Yeah, I been having a good day. Yeah, yeah. I’ve been trying a wee bit to relax. I went to see The Dark Knight again in the Imax.

How was it at Imax? I haven’t seen it in that format yet.

It’s awesome [laughs]. It’s really good.

I definitely agree. I know you’ve attended some comics festivals in Scotland. Were you a fan of the comics?

Yeah I like comics a lot, especially Batman.

What graphic novels are you a fan of?

Sandman is a good one. Also, Fables is another good one right now.

Mogwai haven’t worked with Andy Miller since your first album, Young Team. It’s been 10+ years. Why did you decide to collaborate again for The Hawk is Howling?

It’s been sort of half circumstantial and half the fact that we really like his work. He’s a really nice person. We ended up with a set of circumstances where our own studio [Castle of Doom] was out of action because the building was sold. Andy was one of the main engineers at Chem 19 Studios in the area [Hamilton, Lanarkshire, Scotland]. We’ve liked a lot of the stuff he’s done so it seemed like a very good choice.

When you collaborated with him on Young Team and/or The Hawk is Howling what did you admire about his studio work ethic?

I think he just has good studio mannerisms. I always feel relaxed recording with Andy and he has a lot of good ideas. He never seems to get too stressed out. He’s funny too.

How did the band like how the remastered Young Team turned out? Was it surreal to look back on it since it you’ve always talked about how difficult it was to record that one?

It was weird but it was pretty good. It almost feels like a different band because it was so long ago. The music certainly doesn’t sound as old. It’s aged well in comparison to our other albums.

I wanted to talk to you about the wonderful “BatCat” music video. It has such a fairytale-gone-wrong feel to it. Was that Dominic Hailsone’s idea or the band’s decision?

We really didn’t have that much involved in it. We left everything up to him. I think it is pretty cool. It was filmed somewhere in the countryside of England. I really like Dominic’s other work too.

A lot of your fans have been abuzz about the track titles’ strange frankness. I always love that about a new Mogwai release because you’ve made a habit out of those kinds of track titles. As far as the title of the album, what does The Hawk Is Howling mean to you? How did that come about?

It was just something we heard in an interview about the band Chicago’s sound described as, “the hawk is howling.” It was really funny; we were laughing a lot. That’s where it came from.

For the last few albums, the group has started to embrace and introduce electronic elements into your studio recordings. Was that a slow transition at first?

It’s something we like. We like messing around with sequencers and computers and stuff, but it’s quite a difficult thing to do and make it sound natural. If you become too heavy-handed with it, the song sounds almost like a remix. It’s something we enjoy though.

You’ve stayed with Matador since 2001’s Rock Action, so I guess they’re a good fit for you then, right? Why do you think you’ve stayed so long with them?

To be honest it’s terrible. They just won’t let us loose [laughs]. No, I’m only joking. They’ve got a good understanding of us and they’re fun people. I can’t think of a better label to be on in America for us.

What do you think of the most recent album, now that it’s finished?

I’m really happy about it. The best thing about it is that the songs are real live songs. They pretty much sound the same recorded as they do live. That always makes it easier to go on tour and just enjoy playing the music. The thing I really like about this album is that because there are so many people in the band that write music, you can hear things that were once really sketchy that are now coming together.

Where others might tiptoe around their criticisms of bands or artists they dislike, Mogwai has made it a habit to voice its opinions. Are there any new trends or musical acts you really can’t stand right now? Sigur Rós has a new album…

To be honest I’m trying to not be as negative right now. I think it became a bit predictable [laughs] So, I’m joining the tiptoe party.

I find it really admirable that Mogwai doesn’t cater to what the critical world says, nor is swayed by populist opinion. Many bands get lost in trying to keep up with the machinations of some perceived “scene” that they see themselves representing.

I’ve seen that happen with quite a few bands. They find they need to change their direction and they stop doing what made people like them in the first place. It’s one of the common things that happen with rock bands. We try to learn from other people’s mistakes.

Have you seen any dynamic shifts in your fanbase?

I think we probably get new young fans that discover us. There’s no way that some of the kids that I see at our shows could have come to one of our shows even five years ago, because they wouldn’t be allowed into a bar. I’m guessing we constantly lose old people and gain new young people. Old people get tired of Mogwai and then young people discover us for the first time.

Sounds like a revolving door of fandom.

Yeah, it does [laughs].

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