Just months after finishing their self-recorded, mixed and distributed record Blue Red, the never complacent Eyes Lips Eyes have written a brand new set of songs and are getting ready to record for the first time outside the confines of their China Town loft / studio in Los Angeles.

While shaking up their all encompassing DIY recording formula, the new songs and arrangements will continue to explore the two distinctive parts of the Eyes Lips Eyes quartet – constant instrumental stimulation and provocative lyrical-styling – ever present through out the fall 2011 release Blue Red.

The foundation of the group – a trio of bass, drums and guitar – arrange themselves in a way that at times resembles a track meet. On “Bear Trap” they groove in sync through a five-minute haul, building into a fervent, dead heat finish. Meanwhile, “Tickle” resembles a relay as the guitar plays a speedy, jubilant intro/chorus riff, before passing the baton to bass for a bouncy, verse counter-melody of it’s own. The upbeat, hook-laden parts, rehearsed at the band’s loft party-performances, recall elements of Television and other late seventies post punk, mixed with the unbridled, night out energy of The Strokes. Vocalist Tony Hello serves as a counter-weight to the trio, and at times too invokes Julian Casablancas’ or Alex Kapranos’ (Franz Ferdinand) swagger and command of melody. But beginning with opening track “Pretty” with its celebratory refrain of, “Pretty enough to die…” Hello exudes a quirkiness and unpredictability perhaps most akin to David Byrne (who’s song “Psycho Killer” is covered by Eyes Lips Eyes as track three).