I’m sitting backstage with Dominic Aitchison and John Cummings from Mogwai, just hours before they are to play a sold-out show at the Somerville Theater outside of Boston. The mood backstage is light, yet the setting is barren, as the yellow, undecorated walls circumfuse the inhabitants of the room with a sterile glow. Only the basic amenities are provided for the band. The two band-mates sit on folding chairs while the rest of the band wander in and out of the room, making phone calls, trying to reach girlfriends on the other side of the world. Mogwai have recently finished their finest record yet, Rock Action, and are about to deliver the goods on stage for a rapt seated audience. But for now, the band simply waits, and adjusts to the small differences of yet another show in yet another city.

"What do you think you'll do when this is all over?" Dominic asks John.

"I don’t know really, I guess I should have stayed in school, a bright lad like myself," John replies. The small exchange is a fine example of the collective mindset of these young Scotsmen. Since 1997, Mogwai have released a string of quality records, each more crafted and refined than the last. 1998’s Come On Die Young was showered with praise from critics on both sides of the Atlantic, and earned the band a rabid following. Mogwai have created worlds of texture with their guitars, leaving audiences and listeners floored by their overwhelming yet subtle beauty. Still, these musicians never take themselves too seriously. When asked what he has been listening to, keyboard player/multi-instrumentalist Barry Burns responds by saying, "I don't like music anymore, there's no point." He's kidding, of course; half-kidding, at least.

Mogwai exist in a rock universe that is oddly parallel to any stereotypical one. There may never be any lines of coke sniffed off of amplifiers, though hits of ecstasy may be ingested. In place of trashy groupies, the band gets lots of attention from skinny boys wearing thick-framed glasses, who inquire as to what pedals they use or how they get a particular sound, their bank of which ranges from bombastic to soothing. These paradoxes are where Mogwai exist. They know they’re a great band, but they never fall prey to their egos.

Rock Action reveals a band getting more complicated. In their own words, Mogwai wanted to become less boring, and did so by adding more electronic overtones and vocals to an increasingly melodic palette. What separates Mogwai from the endless stream of boring post-rock bands is that the songs are always the focus, not the process. Emotion is at the forefront of the music. The heavy-heartedness of the melodies is often resolved in a crash of noise, the sound of instruments abused in the best way. It makes sense that the band members count Joy Division among their favorite bands, as Mogwai can strike, often without words, a darkly reflective nerve, and it is this essential humanity that is key to the impact of the music.

The band has matured to a level of expression advanced enough to abandon the loud/quiet dynamics of their early work. Now the music floats along with an ease that needs no violent shove by the hand of mighty distortion. Now, the music progresses at its own pace.

After all their earlier successes, Mogwai went into the recording of the new album with something to prove. They returned to Tarbox Studios in upstate New York with Mercury Rev’s David Friddman producing. Initially, they recorded almost 12 songs, and scrapped them all. "The first stuff we did was too much like the last album. They’re not very good. They’ll probably come out on the box set ten years from now", jokes Dominic. "We went in to recording knowing how to play the songs, but had no idea what they would sound like after messing them around. Last time we recorded with Dave there were a lot of things that we wanted to try but couldn’t because of time and money. This time we were able to tinker around a bit more. We get on with Dave really well."

Stuart Braithwaite adds, "We wanted the songs to be less boring. A lot of the vocals came afterward because we felt that some songs needed something more." Initially, Chan Marshall (of Cat Power) was supposed to put some vocals on but that sort of flaked out. The product of this extra time is clearly a more intricate Mogwai. Perhaps the finest recorded moment so far in their career is found on the new album, in the song "2 Rights Make 1 Wrong." The song starts out with only plaintive guitar-picking, until the rest of the band gradually joins in. Then, after the tension of a huge Mogwaian crescendo has dispersed, there is left only a banjo picking the main melody of the song, while electronic darts fly around and throughout a circular pattern of voices and strings. And yet, what seems to be carefully orchestrated craft is, more often than not, the product of pure happenstance. "When we write songs, it’s like 90% accident. It’s not usually planned. It’s usually just about what seems right. The mood in the studio is really jovial. A lot of people expect it to be really somber, but we’re not at all.", says Dominic.

Mogwai clearly enjoys everything about being in a band. Most importantly, Mogwai’s live shows are the best example of the groups ample prowess. In a live setting, the innate beauty of the songs comes alive through the force and volume of the presentation. The band members get lost in the songs on stage. Sometimes it seems as if the instruments are playing the band, the group is so pulled by the flow of the music. Mogwai claims that the intensity of their shows depends a lot on chemistry, both natural and synthetic, as John explains, "It depends how drunk we are. I love making noise. Last night we kept getting electric shocks and the bass amp kept going out. We were getting really pissed off. We usually play our best shows when we’re pissed off."

Pissed off or not, live Mogwai sets are always enthralling. On stage, the band consistently displays a mastery of their technique. The band’s most compelling live moment is their as-yet-unrecorded "Our Father Our King," a full-on chaotic revision of an old Jewish folk song. "We’ve tried to record it a few times but we just can’t seem to get it right in the studio. The noise part of that song is my favorite part, it gets better every night," Stuart says.

Whether lulling listeners into a trance or pummeling them into submission, Mogwai continues to fulfill their potential. One reviewer described Rock Action as the post-rock Sgt. Peppers, while Stuart, on the other hand, is determined to think of the record as one of Rock Action’s rejected titles. Stuart laughs off the hyperbole, never one to take praise from the press to heart. "It will always be ‘Watch Out You Slut’ to me," he says with a grin.