The Broken West seems to have sprung from nowhere with a fantastic debut pop album. Of course, it's never that simple -- just ask any "overnight sensation" -- but one could be forgiven for thinking it. The first time I heard about the band was when I read that it had been signed to Merge and would need to change its name from the Brokedown. Soon came word of "The Broken West," followed shortly by the release in January of I Can't Go On, I Will Go On.

The five-piece formed in 2004 in Los Angeles and recorded and released an EP, The Dutchman's Gold, that blended pop smarts and alt-country instrumentation. Somewhere along the line the country feel took a back seat, leaving a tasty pop stew in its place. The new disc starts strong with three killer tracks "On the Bubble," "So It Goes" and "Down in the Valley." All can be heard on the band's MySpace page. From there, things are tempered a bit, the manic energy of that opening trio giving way to a consistent but more subdued batch of songs.

While the band has gigged plenty, it's now in the midst of its first national tour in support of the record, a tour that brings it here to Iowa City March 3. Stay tuned for a review. Meanwhile, you can hear the band in many different contexts online. They played a nice acoustic set for Aquarium Drunkard recently (a set that included a cover of Guided by Voices' "Game of Pricks," showing off the band's good taste), and were live on KEXP recently as well.

Lead singer and guitarist Ross Flournoy took time during the opening days of the tour to grab a laptop and answer a few questions about the band.

TIRBD: You seem to have emerged fully formed, with few of the stumbles that sidetrack new bands. Is there a long, laborious process behind all of this, or have you just been well-prepared and/or lucky?

RF: I don’t know if I would say we emerged “fully formed.” It’s true that we’ve only been together for two and a half years, but we’ve worked really hard in that time and I think we’ve matured quite a bit artistically. I think we still have a long ways to go in that sense and a lot more we want to do, but things really started to cohere in terms of songwriting and developing our own sound in the last year and a half or so. I think we all feel like the new record is a big step up from our EP.

To my ears, there are a couple of distinct sounds here. The first three songs are a blast of classic power pop, with much of the rest of the disc sounding a bit more modern and experimental, with some folky flourishes. Is that the sign of a band still finding its way, or do you just have a lot of different avenues you hope to explore? How do these songs compare with what the band sounds like now?

That’s a good (and tough) question. As I mentioned previously, I think we all hope that we will continue to evolve in our songwriting and in the way we make records. Also, however, I think we all like a wide range of music, so that diversity of influences tends to come out in the songs we write. So to answer the question, I think what you hear as sort of a range of styles on this album is a product of both things: an interest in different kinds of songs AND us as a band kind of coming into our own and developing.

Silverlake is a fashionable area for musicians. Does that rub off on you at all?

Not really at all. We do all live in the Silverlake/Echo Park area, and we love it there. The people are really nice and there are some folks there who have been very supportive of us (Todd Clifford, owner of local record store Sea Level Records, Kevin Bronson at the LA Times, Duke Logan of local blog You Set The Scene). But aesthetically, we’re really nothing like any of the “Silverlake” bands. They tend to be a bit more “shoe-gazy”.

What is the story behind the name change, and how do you think the new name fits the band?

Long story short, there is another band in rural Illinois with a similar name, and they had it first. Their label sent us a cease and desist letter, so to avoid a possible prolonged legal struggle, we opted to change the name. We drew up a list of possible names and chose The Broken West. I think that name was suggested by Mac, co-owner of Merge.

How does it fit? I don’t know—I guess we’re getting used to it. I think it appealed to us more than other possibilities in large part because it’s phonetically similar to our old name, The Brokedown. Also, there’s something a tad mysterious about it.

Have you played much live, or is this tour really your first extended chance to do so? What has it been like to play the songs night after night?

Well, we have definitely played live a lot. We probably averaged about 30 or 40 shows a year our first two years, the vast majority of which were in Los Angeles. We did one sort of mini-tour before we got signed—fall of 2005 we played about 12 dates, I believe, from Boston down to Atlanta and back up; we also traveled to SXSW last year.

But as far as extensive touring goes, this is our first experience doing that. As I write this I am on I-5 headed to Eugene, OR, which will be our second tour stop, so I can’t say how it’s been to play the set night after night. The first night—in San Francisco—was a blast. I think we’re all very excited to play to new people every night.

You talk a lot about favorite music when given the chance to offer playlists and such. What is one disc that few people know about, but that everyone should own?

That’s an excellent question…one disc, huh? Let’s see…I don’t know if many people know about it, but one that springs to mind (because I am listening to it right now) is The Sleepy Jackson’s Lovers. Some very solid jams on that record!

Labels: Monday Interview, music