Following the infant's cry of their debut album, Mogwai Young Team, Glasgow's premier sonic delinquents head for the hills and craft a measured, more mature sophomore effort. Recorded in upstate New York with Dave Fridmann, who also produced Mercury Rev's acclaimed Deserter's Songs, Come On Die Young embraces the sonic jangle of My Bloody Valentine, adding a tough, craggy edge which keeps things from teetering over the precipice of shoe-gazing.

On the face of it, the album seems like a simple enough exercise in aimless sonic jamming, but get beneath the tangle of experimental guitar lines and there's real beauty to be uncovered. The abbreviated title track, CODY, for example, brings you to a place far removed from the street-corners of Glasgow, thanks to some evocative lapsteel playing from guest musician Richard Formby.

The uncharacteristic appearance of vocals on the track (Mowai eschew singing, usually preferring to let the sound say it all) only increases the sense of being astrally projected to another time and place. Punk Rock also features vocals, but of the spoken-word variety - it's an archive recording of Iggy Pop declaiming the artistic validity of punk. Gabba gabba hey, indeed. But although Mogwai may consider themselves the blast-furnace spawn of Johnny Rotten, the album as a whole is surprisingly gentle and undulating, giving the listener lots of space to dream and visualise. Mogwai may wear Kappa clothing, but beneath the Britpop anoraks lies a different species altogether.