With the release of I/O, Limblifter returns after a brief hiatus of sorts, and as frontman Ryan Dahle explains, the time off wasn’t exactly an issue of writer’s block.

"I had this record pretty much ready to go in 2002, but Universal wouldn’t release it. So, I had to release it on my own, you know, financially. I had to fund the whole thing." Not an easy task, but following as it did on the heels of another adversity, Dahle was able to take it in stride.

2001 saw the departure of long-time drummer and brother Kurt Dahle ("I’d been playing with him since I was a wee kid"), and Dahle was left with the task of overhauling his songwriting process. "I had no idea what to do after my brother left, and it was pretty difficult to play with other drummers I found, because I was so used to playing with him. So, when I started writing songs, I took Pat Steward into the studio and started making drum loops. I wrote a lot of the songs to those loops." The process allowed him to explore some different avenues that weren’t previously apparent. "I wanted to make a departure from what Kurt does, just for the hell of it. It made me create different kinds of songs."

The result is a stripped down affair, quite different from the demo recordings for I/O. But as he explains, "There was just no way we were going to pull off what the demos were like; they were just so intricate and crazy."

Dahle brought the band into The Factory studios for the full analogue treatment. "Everything that you hear on the record–in so far as the bass, drums, and two guitars–is live to two-inch tape, which is pretty rare nowadays. We didn’t want to edit anything, [because] the sound of two-inch tape and a live band is just amazing. It gives it more of a fingerprint."

With the wheels finally in motion, what does the future hold for Limblifter? "The floodgates are open for sure. I just had such a buildup of creativity and willingness to go out and play that we feel on fire a little bit. The chemistry within the band seems to be stronger and stronger, what we’re building together, so it’s cool. The people I’m involved with seem really inspired by the music, which isn’t easy to find. It’s a very good time right now."