Like a Hail Mary pass, double albums often betray either desperation or overconfidence. Rare are the two-disc sets that are neither one final, bold attempt to salvage a fledgling career by going for broke nor a cocky, bombastic gesture of self-aggrandizement. But New Jersey’s Lenola is a rare band. After four full-length LPs that progressed from My Bloody Valentine shoegaze drone to Beatles and Beach Boys-inspired classic ‘60s pop, the double-disc Sharks & Flames finds Lenola at absolute ease in weaving fairytale ditties, rootsy folk lullabies, hard-hitting rock bashers and electronically tweaked melodies into one—OK, two—cohesive albums. Never do the varied sounds come off as square pegs jammed into round holes. Nor does some dopey prog-rock concept serve to “unify” disparate musical themes. Instead, S&F is simply two discs’ worth of delicately crafted and diversely flavored pop tunes. The discs were released in November 2002 on P-Vine in Japan and on Homesleep in Europe. But—get this—the group has decided to disband before the albums’ release Stateside. Again, Lenola is a rare band.

Drummer Sean Byrne and singer/guitarist Jay Laughlin answered MAGNET’s questions via e-mail about the new albums and their breakup.

Why release a double album at this stage in the band’s career?
Byrne: The recording session for what became Sharks & Flames was pretty open-ended with no specific deadline for finishing it. We all happened to become unemployed while the album was being worked on, so we just kept writing and recording all the time. I guess it became more of a “why the hell not?” decision since we felt we had enough strong material to make up a two-CD release.

Judging by the artwork on the CDs, one disc would appear to represent “Sharks” and the other “Flames.” Is that accurate?
Laughlin: Well, we’d like people to look at Sharks & Flames as two separate albums packaged together in one release. Each disc was sequenced with a specific start, middle and end so it would stand alone as its own 10-song disc. One disc not needing the other to make sense, but complementing each other at the same time.

Starting with your last album, you began to more fully explore different sounds and distance yourselves from note-bending shoegaze. It seems this album continues the exploration. True?
Byrne: True indeed, we hope. Pretty much any style or direction was considered and encouraged during the writing and recording of this album. That mentality kept things interesting. We wound up doing our most electronic-influenced stuff right alongside our folksiest-sounding stuff. There are some very layered “pop” moments, as well some very sparse and stripped-down, slower material.

Why did the band decide to break up just after the release of such a huge project?
Byrne: For me, it felt like closure “after” completing a huge project. Personally, the timing felt appropriate, rather than disbanding on the eve of a tour or something like that. After a very long and enjoyable haul, I had decided to leave the band. Without the prospect of a U.S. release or tour for Sharks & Flames, there was less of an impact on the timing of this decision.

Laughlin: Even though I was the “principal” songwriter of the band, I just felt it was time to move on from Lenola after Sean decided to leave the band. It was tough for us after (original bassist) Scott Colan had left the band at the end of 2001, but we decided to continue working on Sharks & Flames, get some new guys on board for playing live and everything worked out really well. Now with Sean taking off, I just didn’t feel right about playing as Lenola with only two of the four original members still in the band. I decided it was time for a name change and a fresh start.

How will this breakup affect the release of the album in the States?
Byrne: There is no plan at this time for a U.S. release of Sharks & Flames, but fortunately, the record is now available as an import through several U.S. distributors.

What projects will the band members now pursue individually or collectively?
Byrne: I’m continuing to release music as the Twin Atlas, and Jay will be unleashing music as Garden State later this year. We’ll all continue to be involved in each other’s projects to some degree. Jay and (Lenola guitarist) Dave Grubb helped out a lot on the latest Twin Atlas CD, and Garden State will likely involve several Lenola alumni as well. Scott has begun working on some music projects recently, and Dave continues recording and engineering music, currently working on a new release by AM/FM.

Are there any lost tracks that may surface in the future?
Laughlin: There were two songs from the Sharks & Flames sessions that are not on the record. We’ve had some recent compilation invites, so those songs may indeed find a home after all.

Byrne: We also intend to keep the Lenola Web site (www.lenola.com) active and will hopefully be putting up a lot of new and old out-of-print and outtake Lenola stuff as MP3s or on a limited CD release if possible. [Homesleep, www.homesleep.it]