The Submarines debuted in 2006 with “Declare a New State!” – a bedroom pop record about romantic entanglements and disentanglements. A fine slice of boy/girl indie it was, as was the 2008 follow-up “Honeysuckle Weeks” – undeniably sweet and with adult smarts, like candy that’s good for you. To hear the newest track from their forthcoming album “Love Notes/Letter Bombs,” though, you’d think the husband/wife duo of Jack Dragonetti and Blake Hazard had been gulping protein shakes.

Everything about “Fire” is more muscular, and even a bit foreboding. “We definitely wanted to step out of the bedroom with this one,” Dragonetti says of the new album. “Sonically speaking, we wanted to challenge ourselves with something a bit more aggressive – but still keeping it close to our hearts. On ”˜Fire,’ we used these crazy electronic bagpipes. They’re nearly impossible to play but they sort of sound like a Casio on crack or something. Working with other folks (John O’Mahony and Jim Eno) also helped direct the overall sound of the album.”

Says Hazard: “I guess making this record has been a sort of study of intent vs. outcome. We set out not to make a record about our relationship, but essentially made record about love and relationships in spite of ourselves (a few songs excepted). We set out to make a more minimalist, harder and perhaps even a bit darker-sounding record, and we came out with a fairly intricately layered, almost hopeful sounding one instead (though the darkness still lurks in places). Apparently, love and light will not be out-maneuvered!”

The new album is due April 5 on Nettwerk.

||| Stream: “Fire”

||| Live: The Submarines plays April 7 at the Detroit Bar and May 7 at the Troubadour.