They’re Loud and Lovin’ It

Perhaps it’s a rear-guard reaction to punk’s louder, faster ethos. Maybe it’s just a reflexive urge to swim against the current. Whatever the reason, a handful of indie rock bands are pulling in the reins on speedy tempos and traditional vocals, achieving a measure of success by inverting success’ usual formulas. Of this subset of bands, which also includes Sigur Ros, Bardo Pond and the pioneering Low, Mogwai may be the unlikeliest pick to click.

The Glasgow quintet--guitarists Stuart Braithwaite and John Cummings, bassist Dominic Aitchison, drummer Martin Bulloch and utility player Barry Burns--elongates song structures to their breaking point and frequently eschews vocals in favor of either noisy abstraction or hushed delicacy.

Its latest album, “Rock Action,” is its best-selling record to date, and the band is packing clubs all over the country, including a performance at the El Rey Theatre on Sunday.

Mogwai’s success is a bit perplexing even to its members. “I really don’t know why we’ve done as well as we have,” says Braithwaite, 25. “I suppose college radio has helped a lot. But I really don’t know.”

Timing certainly has something to do with it. At a time when popular music continues to draw from an empty well of ideas, Mogwai’s downshifting slog-rock stings with the shock of the new.

“On a really basic level, what we do is based on the music we like--My Bloody Valentine, Spaceman 3, the Velvet Underground,” says Braithwaite. “That music is very affecting in a lot of ways. It walks the emotional tightrope.”

Like those bands, Mogwai creates sprawling sonic architecture, building epic aural environments through the slow, gradual accretion of sounds. At times, the band can creep into an ambient cocoon, but it can also veer off into muscular instrumental excursions that pack tremendous visceral power.

“One of the best things about playing live is watching people’s reactions to what we’re doing,” says Braithwaite. “The volume can get really loud, and crowds can get annoyed. That’s always fun.”

“Rock Action” is easier on the ears than previous Mogwai albums. For the first time, vocals were used prominently--a huge leap of faith for a band that approaches singing with reluctance.

“I think that vocals, unless they’re special, can really be a crutch, and make music sound dull,” says Braithwaite. “Initially, we didn’t use vocals so much ‘cause they just weren’t working. We really made an effort to get them in better shape this time than they have been in the past. It can cheapen what you’re trying to get across if the music isn’t good.”

For a band whose sound tends toward the amorphous, Mogwai is fastidious about its recorded output. Shortly after forming in 1995, the group released a series of singles for various independent labels, culminating with 1997’s “Ten Rapid,” a compilation that earned strong reviews in both the U.S. and British press.

The band’s 1997 full-length debut, “Mogwai Young Team,” should have been a triumph, but was instead released amid grumbling by the band members that it had been hastily recorded and released.

“We had a really bad time recording that record,” says Braithwaite. “A lot of things went wrong with it. For some reason, a pointless deadline had been imposed upon us, and so we had to record it quickly. Of course, we were too young to question such things at the time.”

On their next album, 1999’s “Come On, Die Young,” Mogwai was clearly in control. The record’s galloping grandeur was achieved with the help of new member Burns, who helped write all of the tracks and played horns, guitar and keyboards on the record.

“Barry originally came in as the flute player,” says Braithwaite. “He’s very musical. He used to be a music teacher, in fact. He made us start listening to stuff we never really listened to before, like Funk-adelic.”

“Come On, Die Young,” their first on indie power Matador Records, won Mogwai a clutch of new fans, among them legendary hip-hop producer Arthur Baker, who collaborated with the band on a 20-minute interpretation of the traditional Jewish hymn “My Father, My King” for an upcoming album. “We were in awe of Arthur, ‘cause he produced Afrika Bambaataa’s “Planet Rock,’ ” says Braithwaite. “I remember talking about the first shows we ever saw, and his was Led Zeppelin and the MC5. That was just the coolest thing we’d ever heard!”

So, is a hip-hop remix in the offing for Mogwai?

Says Braithwaite, “I suppose if we really wanted to hit big, we could cut our songs down to three minutes and get a Fatboy Slim remix.”* Mogwai, with Bardo Pond, Sunday at the El Rey Theatre, 5515 Wilshire Blvd., L.A., 8 p.m. $16. (323) 936-4790.