The Hold Steady Perform Live on the Interface

Even with the most well-planned schedules, the life of a touring musician is anything but routine. Still, after five albums in six years, the Hold Steady have become as settled as any rock band can be. And that lack of urgency shows on their latest LP, 'Heaven Is Whenever.'

"It's certainly more melodic in many ways," frontman Craig Finn tells Spinner about the album, which is out now on Vagrant Records. "It's really easy to say, "This is a complete a departure,' but I think we made a Hold Steady record. I said it's 'less anthemic' somewhere and people were kind of worried about that, but it's a little more relaxed. I'm 38 and I'm in a pretty content place, so it's not really raging against anything."

With the acoustic slide guitars of 'Sweet Part of the City' and the more melodic rock of 'We Can Get Together,' the album is more varied than their previous efforts. Lyrically, Finn stays positive, as always, but 'Heaven Is Whenever' features more of a message to the band's fans.

"Some of the lyrics on this one might have come from a little different place, a place of wisdom in that I've been doing this a long time," Finn says. "We've become somewhat part of the establishment in the indie rock sense. We play, people show up and there's not as much to prove, so to speak, so it's coming from a maybe more content and a kinder place. The overall tone is like, 'Hey, listen, trust me. It's all going to be OK.'"