The band's website explains its moniker was taken from the name of the breed of furry animal in Steven Spielberg's 1984 film, Gremlins, and means 'ghost' or 'devil' in Cantonese. Depending on your pronunciation, however, it could also mean 'no ghost'.

Mogwai have a taste for the absurd. The latest album - their sixth in a 13-year career - was named after a phrase they heard Doors keyboardist Ray Manzarek use in a radio interview to describe Chicago. 'I think he got it wrong. It sounded like nonsense,' says band member Stuart Braithwaite.

The album's cover is equally ridiculous. It features a striking but somewhat bizarre image of a golden eagle based on a picture the artist bought on the mainland. The track listings show a similar penchant for shocking in a darkly-humorous way. They include I'm Jim Morrison, I'm Dead and I Love You, I'm Going to Blow Up Your School, the first song in a decade written by bassist Dominic Aitchison, and one that could have been culled from a Half Man, Half Biscuit album.

'We make up the music first and add the titles later,' says Burns. 'Because we don't use a singer, it's much harder to come up with a name for a song, so it'll be something that one of us has said or seen that sounds good or makes us laugh or whatever.'

As a largely instrumental band, Mogwai has difficulty getting on the radio. 'We get more exposure in films and TV and that's why we don't have a problem doing music for that or even adverts because radio stations won't play us,' says Burns.

Mogwai's music has been used for a Levi's ad as well as US television programmes CSI: Miami and Sex And The City.

The Glasgow five-piece, who prefer power chords and soaring riffs to create orchestral soundscapes, have proven popular with filmmakers too, with music in Tom Cruise's sci-fi movieVanilla Sky and a documentary about footballer Zinedine Zidane. While such commercialism irks some fans, the band has always seen it as a way to reach new listeners, so long as they're not promoting 'McDonalds or the Tory party'.

'We see TV as a much better forum for people to hear our music than radio ever will be,' Burns says.

It's also preferable to having to add lyrics.

Unlike previous albums, on which Braithwaite or Burns sing one or two songs, The Hawk is Howling is entirely instrumental. It took the band just three weeks to record it and another two to mix it.

'I think it's been received fairly well,' says Burns. 'I think it always seems natural to us how we progress; it's more instinctive than cerebral. I'm more worried what people will think of the next one because we want to do something properly mental.'

Burns says Mogwai will play five or six songs from the new album - possibly including The Sun Smells Too Loud, the closest Mogwai have come to an upbeat pop song - spattered between a selection of their live classics. As with all their cosmic journeys, their performance will veer from bone-shudderingly loud to quiet and atmospheric

Mogwai have often been labelled shoe gazers in the mould of one of their major influences, My Bloody Valentine. Braithwaite formed the band with Aitchison and drummer Martin Bulloch in 1995, releasing their debut album Mogwai Young Team two years later. Burns and guitarist John Cummings joined later that decade. The five have become close-knit after long months on the road and in the studio. 'The band's dynamics haven't changed a great deal,' says Burns. 'We're very good friends and that's very important.'

Burns says the band remain inspired after more than a decade because they focus on their own sound, not that of their contemporaries. 'We're not influenced by anyone else. If you don't listen to other people you seem to do OK,' he says.

The band's own label, Rock Action Records, has unleashed Miami quartet Torche and fellow Glaswegians Errors, allowing them to experience the fickle music industry from both sides, although the business side is handled by Craig Hargrave. As musicians more than managers, the band focuses on spotting and honing talent, rather than looking at spreadsheets and play lists.

'We go and find the bands but we don't 'run' the label as we have Craig doing that for us,' says Burns. 'It's good that we're in a band because you are much more aware of the record company's responsibilities.'

He says it's a tough environment for bands. 'The entire music industry's biggest challenge is that no one's buying music. Who knows how that will be dealt with? Hopefully, vinyl will make a bigger comeback than it already has.'

Besides debuting on the mainland after Hong Kong, once the global tour is complete, Burns says they'll develop songs for that 'properly mental' next album. 'We're in the embryonic stages of writing new songs,' he says. 'Maybe a live album would be on the cards or perhaps a remix album.'

Mogwai, Sun, 8pm, Hitec, 1 Trademart Drive, Kowloon Bay, HK$480, HK Ticketing. Inquiries: 6128 6032