The Head and the Heart are close. So close, that backstage at the band's recent Los Angeles performance frontman Jonathan Russell and drummer Tyler Williams claim that they might as well sit on each other's laps. Someone eventually wrangles a chair and the bandmates take their separate seats, but the point remains: These dudes really, really like each other.

Yet after touring behind 2013's Let's Be Still, the band scattered—to travel the world, start new side projects, and, as was the case with keyboardist Kenny Hensley, learn kung fu. It's these big and little life moments, coupled with recording in California for the first time, that inspired The Head and the Heart's third album Signs of Light, which hits record stores September 9.

 The album comes three years after The Head and the Heart's breakthrough record Let's Be Still and showcases just how far the band—Russell, Williams, and Hensley, along with vocalist/guitarist Josiah Johnson, vocalist/violinist Charity Rose Thielen, and bassist Chris Zasche—has come. Talking about the release, Russell shakes his arms in a hybrid jazz hand/victory pose in excitement. Yes, The Head and the Heart's signature folk sound is still present, but on Signs of Light it's inflected with sunny notes of pop, rock, and even a little blues. It's a record that hints that anything is possible. And that, as both Russell and Williams note, is something to get excited about.