The Books Adjust to Parenthood Before Releasing New Album

Avant-garde indie duo the Books may not have released a new album since 2005's 'Lost and Safe,' but it's not like they've been lounging around for five years. In fact, singer-guitarist Nick Zammuto and cellist Paul de Jong, who have won critical acclaim for the found-sound electronica on their albums 'Thought for Food' and 'The Lemon of Pink,' have remained busier than ever in the time leading up to their fourth album, 'The Way Out,' due July 20 on Temporary Residence.

"For starters, we've been breeding," Zammuto tells Spinner. "We both had our first children, and that was a huge change for us. We focused on settling down for a while. My wife and I bought a 16-acre piece of land in southern Vermont -- you could say that we bought the farm."

The Books stayed active with headlining tours after the release of 'Lost and Safe,' although they issued very little new material aside from 'Cello Song,' their collaboration with Jose Gonzalez for the 'Dark Was the Night' compilation. In the downtime, Zammuto also taught classes on sampling at Williams College, and edited and scored a documentary titled 'Biosphere 2.'

Meanwhile, de Jong was busy building up a library of samples that could be used for a new album, which he presented to Zammuto in 2008. The duo knew that it was time to resume their work.

"I listened to the samples and started immediately hearing ideas," says Zammuto. The Books began working on the record in late 2008, and had to adjust to newfound family life and all of its trappings.

"We could no longer just hang out and make music and start all over the next day if we didn't like what we had done," says de Jong. "Our lives have become more complicated in our responsibilities. We wanted to take things slowly and deliberately."

The finishing touches were put on 'The Way Out' last February, and the group began a frustrating process of shopping the disc to labels that were hesitant to take on an experimental project. Zammuto and de Jong considered self-releasing, but Temporary Residence swooped in and signed on to the release before the duo went the independent route.

The Books will be creating provocative videos this summer that will match the collage-like use of vocal samples on the new album. The duo will also incorporate synchronized visuals into their live show, which comes to the ATP Music Festival on Sept. 4 before a US trek kicks off this fall. While de Jong is looking forward to supporting 'The Way Out' on the road, he says that he is already finding new samples and says that "it's safe to assume the next record won't take another five years."

Listen to the Books' 'The Way Out'