“We’re ready to kick ass,” Foxygen singer Sam France says with a laugh as he checks in from the road. The California psychedelic-rock-fueled indie troupe are in the middle of a run of late-summer shows through their home state that will lead up to a massive fall tour and the equally immense …And Star Power—Foxygen’s first album since they almost vanished following a series of outlandish live gigs, inter- band squabbles and an onstage meltdown that played out across the blogosphere and social media.

In the initial reveal for …And Star Power, the group proudly describes their sophomore Jagjaguwar album as “a svelte 82-minute run time of psych- ward folk, cartoon fantasia [and] soft-rock indulgences,” painting a bizarre-yet- intriguing picture of the 24-track effort. “It’s a new vibe and a new sound,” France explains of the double album, which still maintains the band’s Kinks-meets-post-Revolver- Beatles-sound but also introduces a harder edge, reminiscent of Iggy & The Stooges. That newfound spirit has already translated to their live gigs. “The shows are a bit more aggressive these days, as opposed to meandering and ridiculous,” the singer admits. “In a good way.”

Those who have monitored the band closely during the past two years will be relieved to hear that things are going well after a rough stretch in 2013. After all, Foxygen struggled while touring behind their breakout album We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic, leading more than a few critics to write the group’s obituary before their career fully took flight. Following an onstage meltdown at SXSW in March of 2013, France sustained complete fractures of his tibia and fibula after he fell during a concert in Minneapolis four months later. The band took some time off, worked on solo projects, and, as Jonathan Rado—the other core member of Foxygen—explains, refocused.

“There was so much worrying last year about just any given hing,” the multi-instrumentalist says. “Now, it’s kind of fresh and new again.”

With their friendship and musical partnership seemingly unraveling in the press, Rado and France got back to their collaborative roots. “What Sam and I are best at is just writing and recording music, so it was nice just doing that again,” Rado says. France agrees, clarifying, “A lot of our past anger wasn’t because of what was going on in the media—it was really just stuff that was personal. Now that people are in different places in their lives, with the band, it’s a lot easier. It’s been great.”

During the …And Star Power sessions, Rado and France recruited the likes of White Fence’s Tim Presley, of Montreal and The Flaming Lips for well- placed cameos. In addition to those psych-rock heroes, they also utilized members of their own wild, live band.

According to Rado, the parade of guests was a spontaneous decision that emanated from the positive vibes surrounding the sessions. “There are certain moments on the album where it just felt like those people would be appropriate. On ‘Everyone Needs Love,’ it felt like it needed to have [The Flaming Lips’] Steven Drozd on it. There’s a point in ‘Brooklyn Police Station’ where it just sounds like Presley would be playing on it. We’re friends with him, why not just ask him to play on it?”

If …And Star Power is the result of the band’s newfound collective focus, then Rado feels that their journey to personal rediscovery began during the turmoil that was 2013. In fact, despite the commotion, he believes that Foxygen were actually playing better than they ever had since forming the project as teenagers in 2005. “Energy-wise it was great. And sound-wise, too,” Rado says.

“I had a lot of pedals going on so it was like just loud cacophony. I vaguely remember a couple shows we played last year and
I loved them. They were completely chaotic, which was amazing for us.”

Now, Foxygen are armed with a more focused aggression, thanks to their new batch of tunes. Expanding the band to nine people—including backup singers and a horn section— allows for both their new material and their back catalog to flourish.

“[With We Are the 21st Century Ambassadors of Peace & Magic], we made a record that had too many instruments on it, and we couldn’t always pull that stuff off live,” Rado says. “Now that we’re able to sound better on stage, the songs can sound fuller. The idea is to have the band be more stable and have Sam be able to do what he does rather than worrying about how the music sounds—the background singers and every- thing. It is important for us to have something that’s definitely fun to look at live.”

…And Star Power is a true rebirth, one that will take Foxygen away from their problem-child past and move them gracefully into the next phase of their career. “It was definitely refreshing to make new music,” France says.

Rado chimes in: “Making this album felt like the way we had always made albums, like when we were kids. There were no worries. We could try whatever we want, do whatever we want and not have to overthink any- thing or worry about it, which I don’t think a lot of bands get to do. We’re really, really lucky to be able to do that.”