Brighten the Corners

Hale also admits that Transcendence's musical reach may have thwarted their attempts to connect with a major label. Sleep With You had its quirky Brit rock swagger, revealing a taste for glam-era David Bowie and T. Rex. Then there's the mind-boggling mix summed up by the title of the new opus, Nothing Is Cohesive, a stunning collision of anthems that cull from Pink Floyd and Supertramp to U2, Coldplay, and Radiohead.

"In Transcendence, you have got a band of five very hyperactive, entirely obsessive, relatively insane guys with a severe case of ADD and an extreme passion for music all running around trying to make sense of everything they are listening to and wanting to create their own personal artistic statements. And so the chances of that translating into any two albums sounding remotely similar is going to be pretty slim," says Hale.

Undeterred, Transcendence recently hunkered down at Miami's famed Criteria Studios, laying down tracks for an album targeted for release next year. While Hale claims it will have more focus and even commercial appeal than their previous work, he insists the group will remain true to their muse. Or, as Perdomo puts it, "Look good and sound great."