Why They Travel To Central America For Inspiration

So when they decamped to Mexico City to sculpt eighth album Edge Of The Sun it made perfect sense, and they emerged with the foundation for one of the strongest albums of their diverse yet powerful canon.

"Years ago too we'd travelled to Chile to do some shows, and when we were there we came up with some ideas for songs or song titles and lyrics."

"I think that's part of the charm of getting to be a musician and travel, and most certainly it's a big part of what we do," reflects frontman Joey Burns. "I think one of the things that's really exciting is to get a view of the world and not just through your local television station or say the internet or major news channels, but just actually be out there. So after we had done [seventh album, 2012's] Algiers [in New Orleans] and we had so much fun getting to go somewhere else to do not only some writing but some recording, we felt that it was really successful and thought, 'That felt good, let's see if we can do it again.'

"Our keyboardist [Sergio Mendoza] had suggested going to Mexico City because he had friends down there, so for a little money we could go down there and set up shop and so some writing and make some demos. Years ago too we'd travelled to Chile to do some shows, and when we were there we came up with some ideas for songs or song titles and lyrics. And this time for sure, after we had gone down to Mexico City and then come back to do some more work and do the majority of recording at WaveLab Studio in Tucson, I was referring to some of the feelings and sounds I had heard and experienced. So that song Cumbia De Donde was written in Tucson but was certainly inspired by some of the cumbias coming out of Mexico."

On top of the Mexican inspirations Edge Of The Sun features a slew of guests including Neko Case, Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) and Ben Bridwell (Band Of Horses).

"On this record I just wanted to make something that touched on some of the energy and spirit of our live shows, and the fact that they can be so diverse not only in song styles but also in instrumentation and energy," Burns offers. "So we'd send tracks to people who were coming through Tucson and ask if they wanted to come to the studio, so there became this other side thread, which I thought was pretty interesting and very entertaining for us as well. After a while we pretty much had a guest or featured friend helping out on every song, especially with the backing vocals, and I think it was great having other nuances and characters vocally on this record: it really helped set this album apart from a lot of the others."