The Super Furry Animals made a conscious decision to make a commercial-sounding "pop jukebox" record with 1999's
Guerrilla. 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. The version of "Nythod Cacwn" that appears on the album is the original
demo, with Rhys on drums. The band felt that, although the demo did not sound very professional, there was a warmth to it that would be impossible to recreate were the group to record the song again. The album's title translates into English as "Mane". According to Rhys, the band did not have the mane of a particular animal in mind, but felt it could be "an extension of a Super Furry Animal". ==Musical style==