Writing continues for Animals As Leaders‘ next album—their first for their new label home, Sumerian Records. Band ringleader Tosin Abasi recently told ARTISTdirect:

“We’ve done pre-production on more than half of it. We’re still writing the last 30 percent of it actually. There’s over half an hour of music. The approach is the same, but some of the creative choices are different. On Weightless, we were experimenting with processing guitar audio and having parts that were almost based around the electronic elements.

The song structures were simpler. We were trying to limit the amount of parts per song. On the newer material, I ended up going to work with Misha Mansoor just to return to some of the vibe of the first album he and I did together. At this point, it’s less electronic-driven.

I don’t want to say it sounds like the first album, but there is that degree of Misha‘s involvement with the arrangements.Then, there’s newer material arising from the dynamic between me, Matt, and Javier. There will be some cool surprises that aren’t any of the Animals As Leaders’ albums.”