Mogwai Recording New Studio Album

On the heels of the virtual screening of their concert film 'Burning' last week, Scottish post-rockers Mogwai are heading back to the studio to start working on their follow up to 2008's 'The Hawk Is Howling.' The as-of-now untitled set will be Mogwai's seventh studio album and, according to guitarist Stuart Braithwaite, the band is eyeing a February 2011 release date.

"I think it's going to be an interesting record," Braithwaite tells Spinner. "Quite often, when we go into the studio our songs are nearly written. There's almost a tone of a song, but as the whole band, you haven't realized where it's going."

While Braithwaite was mum on any song particulars, we can only expect more epic jams from the band that took the notion of crescendo and made it something moving and rocking, setting the stage for bands like Explosions in the Sky, God Speed You Black Emperor and the Dirty Three to find similar success.

Still, it's a busy time for Mogwai these days. Later this month, in addition to 'Burning' hitting the big screen in select cities across the country, Mogwai will release their first-ever live album, entitled 'Special Moves.' The material culls from the same three-night run in Brooklyn during late April 2009 that is depicted in 'Burning,' with songs from the band's extensive catalog taking on a new life in some instances. For example, opener 'I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead' is denser, louder and more stretched-out than its studio counterpart and 'Mogwai Fear Satan' is has an immediate punch and is condensed to just under 12 minutes, cutting out the five-minute melodic ending that appears on their debut, 1997's 'Mogwai Young Team.'

"That happens sometimes with our songs," Braithwaite explains. "There's a kind of evolution. I think the live record shows how the songs have changed over the years and have become slightly different."

'Special Moves' is available now for pre-order in an array of different special bundles.