It's a move forward, but not detached from where we were. We have a pretty identifiable sound, so we wanted to evolve it but not lose track of where we came from.

There were some of our fans who really caught on in the early years and were really attached to that sound. It just took a little bit of time to sink in ... and a lot of those people are now digging it. We certainly have a lot of crossover appeal with our sound. But we're very much true to our art.

Elliot was really in a period where he was writing a lot ... feeling the inspiration. It was really hitting with us, feeling like he was pushing the next evolution of the band. The eight of us are a collective, but Elliot stepped up to the plate with a bunch of material that was really progressive.