The Hawk Is Howling is the sixth studio album by the Scottish post-rock band Mogwai, released on 22 September 2008, by Wall of Sound, Play It Again Sam and Matador in the UK, Europe, and the US, respectively.

[13] The album was the first time in ten years that the band had worked with Andy Miller, and at Chem19 Studios, since recording the song "Small Children in the Background" for the No Education = No Future (Fuck the Curfew) EP in May 1998.

Several new compositions were debuted at a show for the Triptych Festival at Tramway in Glasgow in April 2008 — "The Precipice", "I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School", "I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead", "Thank You Space Expert", "Batcat" and "Scotland's Shame".

[14] In 2012 it was awarded a gold certification from the Independent Music Companies Association,[15] which indicated sales of at least 75,000 copies throughout Europe.

The limited edition version contains the documentary Adelia, I Want To Love: A Film About Mogwai by Vincent Moon and Teresa Eggers, the Dominic Hailstone-directed "Batcat" video and the video "Batcat Animation" created by Fernando Alberto Mena Rojas.