Explosions in the Sky brings surprises to fans

The guitar-driven instrumentals of Explosions in the Sky allowfor, and encourage, various interpretations. Songs such as "YourHand in Mine," "So Long, Lonesome" and "A Song for Our Fathers" haveinspired numerous fan-made videos on YouTube that attract, in somecases, hundreds of thousands of views.

The first song from the band's forthcoming album "Take Care, TakeCare, Take Care," tweaks the formula that has been so successful forthe Texas-based band. "Trembling Hands" features voices -- notvocals -- in the mix.

"It was just something with that song that we had experimentedwith a long time ago in the writing process," says guitarist MichaelJames, who appears Friday with Explosions in the Sky at Stage AE,North Shore. "We were experimenting with a vocal, propulsive chant.We really liked it, and thought it really worked. It drove the songforward and became the heart of the song."

"Take Care ... " is the result of four years of recording, andJames admits the band is alternately nervous and excited about itsprospects. The chanting on "Trembling Hands" signals, if not acomplete change, a slight shift in Explosions in the Sky sound.

"We want people to be a little surprised by this album," Jamessays, "and maybe caught a little off guard instead of gettingexactly what they expect. For us, when writing the album, we wantedto sort of surprise ourselves. We've tried some things we haven'ttried before, some experiments, some directions we haven't gone inbefore."

James quickly adds that the band, which features Mark Smith,Christopher Hrasky and Munaf Rayani, isn't diverging from theguitars-bass-drums setup that has served it so well.

"But there's a lot of found sounds that we use, either off theInternet or from recordings that we made, that we use to texture andfill in some of the parts on the album," James says. "I think itadds a nice full sound that nobody has heard from us before, that wehaven't ourselves heard before. "

This new direction, however slight, won't likely stop two thingsinexorably linked to Explosions in the Sky: the descriptive "post-rock" as a way of defining the band, and its work on the soundtracksfor the movie and TV series "Friday Night Lights."

Of the former, James says post-rock used to mean a fusion of rockwith a jazz influence. Somehow, bands such as Mogwai, Godspeed You!Black Emperor and Explosions in the Sky were included under thatamorphous umbrella.

"I don't mind being labeled a post-rock band if it makes iteasier for people to identify with you, " he says. "But I don'tthink it's the most appropriate description of the music. If theyjust described us as an instrumental rock band, that would be muchmore fitting."

The association with "Friday Night Lights," however, has beennothing but providential on both sides; it's hard to imagine themovie especially without the band's soundtrack.

"I feel we did a pretty good job with it, and added something tothe movie," James says. "A lot of people have heard of us just basedon the movie and the TV show because it's widely acclaimed andpeople love it so much. It's been hugely beneficial to us."