Twenty-five years into a celebrated career is an unlikely time to switch things up, but The Mother Hips have never been ones to follow convention. For their brilliant and exhilarating new release, ‘Chorus,’ the California stalwarts turned their recording process on its head, laying down elaborate studio demos to serve as a detailed roadmap for the album a full year before official recording sessions began. It was a step that offered both the time and the space to fully realize their music like never before, and the result is the most refined and cohesive album in The Mother Hips’catalog, one that marks the beginning of what promises to be their most creative and prolific chapter yet.

“We never did a lot of pre-production on our previous records,” says drummer John Hofer. “We had a system where we’d start recording and lock in the arrangements as we went, which was a fun way to work because you never knew how the songs were going to turn out.”

That spontaneity has always suited The Mother Hips, a band whose lofty reputation was built on the back of their spellbinding live shows, but by pushing themselves to work in a completely new way on ‘Chorus,’ they unlocked a slew of artistic rewards.

“Starting with these really fleshed out studio demos was exciting because it meant we could listen back months later with fresh ears,” says singer/guitarist/songwriter Tim Bluhm. “We could realize that a song might be more effective if we played it a little faster or sang it a little higher. It was like having a second chance to get everything just right.”