10 Best Instrumental Rock Albums Since 2000

5. Mogwai - The Hawk Is Howling

Godspeed You Black Emperor, Lift Your Skinny Fists
PIAS/Wall of Sound
Some of the best instrumental rock bands have the finesse to leave their music ambiguous enough for the listener to apply their own interpretations to the compositions. From this viewpoint, Mogwai’s 2008 release The Hawk Is Howling takes that open-ended ideology to the extreme.

Songs like ‘I’m Jim Morrison, I’m Dead’ or ‘The Sun Smells Too Loud’ offer no clear indications of how the music will sound, and while it shows a penchant for the group’s love of curious song titles, it also hits at the core of the group’s very ethos – an unselfish desire to allow the listener to follow their own musical breadcrumb trails.

That’s not to say that their music lacks direction, because songs like the bludgeoning roar of 'Batcat' or the searing slowburn of 'I Love You, I'm Going To Blow Up Your School' clearly provide a vague road map musically but they don't impose their themes in a heavy handed manner.

The band have released equally impressive records but none possess the same delicacy as the The Hawk Is Howling does. Mogwai proved with this record that the vacant spaces left within their vast musical landscape are just as compelling as the spaces that are filled.

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Contributor

Music Journalism graduate and freelance writer from Northern Ireland, who enjoys scouring the music archives for the best sounds from the past and present. Writer for the awesome publications WhatCulture, Metal Injection, Scribol, The Gamer, and Prefix.