Mwng (; English: Mane) is the fourth studio album by Welsh rock band the Super Furry Animals, and the first by the group to have lyrics written entirely in the Welsh language. Mwng was released on 15 May 2000 on the band's own record label, Placid Casual, following the demise of their former label, Creation. The album includes the single "Ysbeidiau Heulog", and reached number 11 on the UK Albums Chart following its release—the first Welsh-language album to reach the top 20. This success led to Mwng being mentioned in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom by Elfyn Llwyd, who described the record as a celebration of a "new wave of confidence in the Welsh nation".
The Super Furry Animals had attempted to make a hit record with a commercial sound with their previous release, 1999's Guerrilla. The record's singles failed to hit the top 10 of the UK Singles Chart, so the band decided to go on "pop strike". The group had written several Welsh-language songs during sessions for Guerrilla, and opted to release them as a coherent album rather than issue "token Welsh songs" as b-sides—reasoning that, if their English pop songs were not going to be played on the radio they may as well release Welsh pop songs that would not get played on the radio. Singer Gruff Rhys stated that, although the decision to release a Welsh language album was not an explicitly political statement, he does feel the record is a "stand against globalisation".
Mwng is an understated rock record inspired by the band's love of "Anglo-American pop culture of the 60s, 70s and 80s." The album has a "wintery persona" that is best summed up by the track "Ymaelodi Â'r Ymylon". The band had written the album's intended singles with the hope that they would become "radio hits", and were disappointed with the limited success they received: the first single, "Northern Lites", charted just outside the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart at number 11, while subsequent releases "Fire in My Heart" and "Do or Die" reached numbers 25 and 20, respectively. The band blamed their record label, Creation, for the relative failure of the singles—particularly "Northern Lites", which they felt "could have been bigger" if the label had produced a better music video and conducted a more successful marketing campaign. As a result, the group became tired of playing "chart games" and went on "pop strike", deciding to release music just "for the joy of it", with no agenda.
The Super Furry Animals had written several Welsh language songs while they were working on Guerrilla and decided that, rather than releasing "token Welsh songs" as b-sides and album tracks, they would issue them together as a coherent record. Rhys has also stated that his boredom with writing songs in English inspired him to write Mwng, and that it is a very personal album, rather than a celebration of Welsh culture.
The "lo-fi" Mwng was recorded over two weeks in late 1999, and—in contrast with the "excessive expense" of Guerrilla—cost just to make. The band chose Gorwel Owen as co-producer, having previously worked with him on their first two albums, 1996's Fuzzy Logic and 1997's Radiator. The majority of Mwng was recorded with Owen at Ofn Studios in Llanfaelog, Wales. According to Rhys, the band had to play in separate rooms to avoid the sound of one instrument bleeding onto the track of another during recording due to Ofn's small size. Songs were recorded almost entirely live, with the band wanting to make a "really immediate record" as a reaction against the drawn out recording sessions for Guerilla and 1997's Radiator, which had taken several months and proved frustrating for the group. Although the album's lyrics are in Welsh, singer Rhys has said that "musically there's nothing Welsh about it at all", going on to state that the record's only real Welsh influences are Datblygu (the writers of "Y Teimlad") and Meic Stevens. Instead, the record is a tribute to the band's obsession with "Anglo-American pop culture of the 60s, 70s and 80s", and is an album that "can be understood on a musical level anywhere in the Westernised world" regardless of whether or not the listener can understand the lyrics. "Pan Ddaw'r Wawr" features a "wheezing harmonium" and "perishing trumpet swirl", and has been compared to the music of XTC, Ennio Morricone, and "psychedelic-era" Rolling Stones. According to Rhys, the music of "Sarn Helen" was written to provide the soundtrack to a fictional journey, "cruising down the A5 to Rome in a two-door chariot". The "folky", eerily melancholic "Nythod Cacwn" has been compared to the Tori Amos single "Cornflake Girl". According to Rhys, Mwngs lyrics—which he considers to be some of his best—were written "very simply" and convey simple messages. The group have variously stated that Creation originally planned to issue Mwng, but allowed the group to buy the rights from them for around , and that the company "didn't want to take" the record in the first place. The band decided to put the album out on their own label, Placid Casual, as they were worried that a label that did not understand the group might do something "horrific", such as putting a Welsh flag on the cover. In the United States, Mwng was released on 20 June 2000 by Flydaddy, with a bonus CD entitled Mwng Bach (; English: Little Mane) featuring five Welsh language tracks: "Sali Mali", from the 1995 EP Moog Droog, and four songs which had originally been released in the UK as B-sides. This two-disc version of Mwng was reissued in the US in 2005 by XL Recordings/Beggars Banquet US. As a result of the record's success, Mwng was mentioned in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom by Plaid Cymru's Elfyn Llwyd, who called on his fellow politicians to congratulate the band on their "chart topping new album" and recognise Mwng as a celebration of a "new wave of confidence in the Welsh nation".
{|class="wikitable"
! Region
! Date
! Label
! Format
! Catalogue
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|rowspan="3"| United Kingdom
|rowspan="3"| 15 May 2000
| rev2 = Alternative Press
| rev2Score = 4/5
| rev3 = The Guardian
| rev3Score =
| rev4 = Melody Maker
| rev4Score = <br />8.2/10
| rev9 = The Rolling Stone Album Guide
| rev9Score =
| rev10 = Select
| rev10Score = 4/5
Mwng received generally positive reviews from critics, with a score of 84 on Metacritic denoting "universal acclaim". In contrast, Rolling Stone said that the album's "tight arrangements of melodic bliss" manage to cross the "Welsh-language barrier." The magazine went on to suggest the album's only flaw is that it "manages to lose its way for a while [...] in the middle", thanks to the poor sequencing of its tracks. Website SonicNet described the record as a slightly retro album that sees the Super Furry Animals "refashion the past into the present". NME described Mwng as an antidote to the "preservative pumped-junk" music that they felt was prevalent at the time of the album's release, and placed it at number nine in their album of the year list for 2000, calling it the group's best record.