"There are so many different directions we can go in," frontman Jon Foreman tells Billboard.com. "One of the songs has a (Led) Zeppelin feel. One of them has more of a Devo feel. So it's Led Devo, or something along those lines. I feel like the headspace we're in now, the glass ceiling's been shattered. We're excited to see how far we can take this thing."

Foreman says Switchfoot has tried working with several producers, including Failure's Ken Andrews and Charlie Peacock, but ultimately decided to produce the album itself. "I feel like we've got a fairly firm grip on what we want do," Foreman says, "and I feel like we can get there on our own."

SSv: What can you tell us about the new Switchfoot?

Foreman: Basically we’re completely free. We have no ties to anyone at this point. That feels really good.

SSv: Is that scary in a way?

Foreman: Absolutely - scary and great. It’s like being in love. ‘It’s amazing. And I’m scared out of my mind.’ No, it’s great though. We just built our own studio and so that makes us even more free. The last few days we’ve been engineering the record ourselves. It’s amazing but at the same time, it can be a little terrifying at times.

SSv: So when you say you want to start a new era, what does that musically mean? Do you approach songwriting differently? Do you reach out to new directions you’ve never tried before?

Foreman: We’re picking songs that are much more adventurous. There are hundreds of songs that we’re trying to choose from, but we’re going with the oddballs first. Also, I feel that our last record was a little bit more of a cityscape with everything in the foreground vying for your attention. I really want this next record to be kind of a desert or ocean where you can see the horizon and that’s the context. You want to see that stretch through all the songs. That’s my intention for this next record that you could pull the lens back a bit and see a bit more of the sky.

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