With Brooklynites Asobi Seksu's latest record, Citrus (Friendly Fire), the emo-gazing quartet have successfully married the dreamy textures of their 2004 self-titled release with practical pop sensibility to create one of most acclaimed records this year. The band are on a relentless national tour that brings them back to New York City for a few days before hitting the road again. I sat down with singer Yuki Chikudate and guitarist James Hanna after the band's CMJ performance at the SoHo Apple store to laugh, love, and hopefully reverse their Seattle curse.

Some production-heavy bands come across thin live. How do you keep your sound so full?

James: I like to keep our guitar sound big. Also, the addition of a second keyboard has really helped.

You're certainly a full-contact guitar player. And we have to mention the band's triple tambourine assault.

Yuki: We love our triple tambourines!

You've had bad luck in Seattle. The band's original lineup disbanded there.

Yuki: Being from New York, Seattle's about as far away from home as you can get and feel. We'd been in the van together for three weeks and everyone was pissed off, cranky, and we just couldn't see eye to eye, so there was nothing else we could do.

James: Last time we were there, I drove our van into a tree. I woke up in the morning half-asleep, threw the van into reverse, and smash—I broke our back windows and trashed the door.

One big change between your last album and Citrus is the addition of Haji [just Haji] and Mitch Spivack. You've stumbled into a rhythm section PJ Harvey would envy.

Yuki: Thanks, make sure you tell our drummer.

[Both burst into laughter]

James: Yeah, we give him such a hard time.

Yuki: Seriously though, James has known them a long time.

James: Haji and I have been in tons of bands together. So when our old lineup exploded, I asked him to join us.

Yuki: He switched from guitar to bass really quickly and we liked his style. Mitch learned all our songs in two weeks. We were really worried at first. We didn't know if we would find anybody, and we had to get back on the road right away. When it all came together it was really, really exciting.

Citrus explores different song lengths and tempos. One song is 17 seconds long, while another runs seven minutes 45 seconds.

James: We never wanted to make a one-dimensional record, our favorite records are ones that explore different tempos and moods. We've got the tempos, but... [more laughter] maybe only one mood.

How did the writing process for this record differ from the last?

Yuki: Our songs got better. Asobi Seksu had the first songs we'd ever written. We weren't really even a band at that point, so we were just experimenting. Now that we've come into our own, we know what we want. There's more clarity to our ideas.

When approaching your lyrics, are you writing in Japanese or English? And do they come before or after the music?

Yuki: The lyrics always come at the end for us. The melody usually dictates whether I feel that Japanese or English is a better flow.

How did producer Chris Zane (Les Savy Fav, the Cloud Room) come into the picture?

James: We interviewed a few people and got the best vibe from him. He says we call him crazy in every interview [laughing], so I'll try not to in this one. He's willing to really push musically and encourage you to go for it. He wants to make sure every record has an individual sound.

And he seems to have worked with every hot NYC band last year.

James: Is Chris hot? [Laughing again]

Yuki: [Mockingly] Chris is sooooo hot.

You've been labeled "shoegazers" by practically everyone who has reviewed your band. Who would people be surprised you listen to?

Yuki: I love girl groups. I just got into Mulatu Astatke, who I discovered on the Broken Flowers soundtrack. We played a show with Dengue Fever and we really loved them. Oh, and I'm a huge classical-music nerd.

James: Most of the music I listen to isn't indie rock.

If you had a dollar for every time you've been compared to My Bloody Valentine you could buy an island.

[Yuki explodes with laughter]

James: Yeah, [chuckling] we'd never have to work again....