Kevin Bronson on September 23rd, 2009

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It was 2007: A little group named Silversun Pickups had a song called “Lazy Eye” climbing the charts; the Airborne Toxic Event were just another new band with an unruly name; and Dim Mak seemed like a pretty cool little label on which to put out a record. And L.A. quartet the Deadly Syndrome released its debut “The Ortolan” while establishing itself as a must-see live act, their whimsical and explosive shows ending in a frenetic drum circle that left your heart pounding.

Seems like so long ago, right? Now the Deadly Syndrome is putting the finishing on its sophomore release – “five or six” songs from which fans might hear Saturday night when the foursome performs at the El Rey Theatre as part of Tarfest. The band isn’t ready to reveal an album title or release plans, guitarist Will Etling says, but he and bandmates Chris Richard, Jesse Hoy and Mike Hughes hope to have it mixed and mastered by the end of October.

The self-produced album was recorded around the band members’ day jobs in Hughes’ Benedict Canyon house between last September and June – in fact, Etling says, “For a while we were considering calling it ‘Nights and Weekends’ because of when we worked on it.” Nico Aglietti and Aaron Older (who worked on the first album and are currently members of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros) lent a hand, and Julie Edwards of the Pity Party makes a brief cameo.

One thing for sure. The sophomore disc won’t be coming out on Dim Mak, which released “The Ortolan.” “We’re trying to figure out all the details and find the right place for the music,” Etling says. “Now that labels don’t have as much of a defined role anymore, it’s been interesting to see [vehicles for releasing music by] management, PR and various online presences pop up.”

Like “The Ortolan,” writing the new album was a group effort. “It’s very similar to the last record, which is part of the reason it took so long,” Etling says. “We were very conscious of making it a group effort, and I think we edited ourselves a little bit more.”

||| Download: New to the Deadly Syndrome? RCRDLBL.com has a couple tracks here from “The Ortolan.”

||| Live: The Deadly Syndrome, with visual artist Sterling Andrews, performs with the Polyamorous Affair and Eskimohunter on Saturday at the El Rey Theatre.

||| Watch: The new video, made by drummer Jesse Hoy, for “I Hope I Become a Ghost”:

Photo by Alan Gastelum