As reported a couple weeks back, the good-humored trio of We Are Scientists have fled Brooklyn's claustrophobic urbania for the pastoral recording environs of Sausalito, California to hash out their follow-up to 2006's With Love And Squalor (Virgin). While it wasn't hard to imagine the three lads hauling ass to lay down some sickly tracks and expand their already rabid world-wide audience, it was a bit harder to swallow the alleged working album title, What # of $ Do That Cost?. Fortunately, dashing frontman Keith Murray was kind enough to take a break from tennis matches and coastal hikes to explain whether that "title" was just for Web hits and giggles, and clued us in to the apparently "next-level jive" they've been jammin' on. That album title is less than definitive, yes? Yes, What # of $ Do That Cost? is a tentative title. One of many, in fact. Others include Fluffin' Tha Cushions and Onlookerswatchedinhorror. Are you consciously looking to one-up Love And Squalor? We definitely went into the studio with the intent to move along from the sound of the last album. This isn't to suggest that we think it wasn't a good album. It was, in fact, a great album, if the American press and our parents are to be believed. We recommend that other bands pick up where we left off and make a fortune mining our old sound. Ultimately though, we felt that it would be beneficial to grow as writers, or at least fake growth by cosmetically changing our sound slightly. I like to think that we've done the former. And the new stuff sounds like... It sounds like it was made by perverted wizards. It's still pretty poppy, but far less reductive than our last album. We're sort of screwing ourselves with the arrangements, but it's much richer and thoughtfully layered... Needless to say, after playing the same songs every night for the better part of two years, anything new sounded amazing to me. I would lazily strum my guitar while watching TV and then automatically declare whatever progression I happened to half-consciously conjure to be a Top 40 single before someone nearby would note that I was holding the instrument upside down. But I got over that little honeymoon pretty quickly and I can now assess the new stuff with clarity, if not actual objectivity... I'll admit that it sounds both self-serving and hackneyed to posit that this new stuff is by far the best music we've ever produced, but that happens to be true, so, in this case, I've been led into cliche by simple fact. So how are you occupying yourselves when not bashing your equipment? In terms of Californian recreation, we've pretty much been doing the requisite Marin coastal hikes... Our calves are monstrous at this point, and our tans are beautiful and bronze. There are some public tennis courts next to our studio in Sausalito as well, and so Chris and I have taken to heading over there to hit balls with great power and little accuracy. www.wearescientists.com
