Though they are far from their days busking in the New York subways—at least in terms of career success, if not in actual time lapsed—the three members of Moon Hooch are not content with simply playing concerts. These days, they want to start a revolution every time they take the stage— not a cultural or political revolution, but one of the spirit. In stark contrast to the explosive, dance-floor quality of their live shows and studio recordings, the musicians are reserved in conversation, thoughtfully extolling the virtues of positive thinking and taking care of your mind and body.

“All of us have changed as people and, with that, our perspectives on music and our approach to music have changed,” says horn player Wenzl McGowen, who comprises one-third of Moon Hooch along with fellow saxophone player Mike Wilbur and drummer James Muschler. “All of us have grown and have become more focused and are more aware of the present moment. That new awareness manifests itself in the precision of this new album.”

Red Sky, which dropped in mid-June, finds the Brooklyn-based trio honing their unique brand of, as McGowen puts it, “electronic music played with acoustic instruments.” With the basic setup of two horns and a drum set, plus minimal production and overdubs, Moon Hooch create high-energy, pulsing dance music that would feel right at home in a New York City nightclub. “When you play with another musician, you can always get closer to perceiving the beat at the same time,” McGowen says. “The three of us have gotten to this place where we try to really focus on each other—100 percent, all the time— and that makes the music much tighter. It gets closer and closer to sounding like techno music or electronic dance music, although we are playing all the instruments live.”

After attempting to record the album once with almost all overdubs, the group found that the approach wasn’t working. “That just turned out to be totally missing the point,” McGowen says. “The live energy was completely lost.”

Moon Hooch feed off of that live energy, as do their fans. McGowen, who wants to write a book on collective consciousness, describes his connection with a live audience as an “energy feedback loop,” where both musicians and dancers amplify each other’s vivacity. But in terms of his goal for the album itself, McGowen had a slightly simpler dream: “It’s gonna be the soundtrack to many fun parties.”