By all accounts, White Rabbits were one of the most exciting bands of 2009. The Brooklyn six-piece released It's Frightening (produced by Spoon frontman Britt Daniel) to heaps of critical acclaim and supported the sophomore effort with a popular nationwide tour, which included a stop on Letterman that Stereogum called one of the best of the year. Recently, I caught up with lead singer and pianist Stephen Patterson.

How's the tour been going?

Amazing – this has been the best tour we've ever had. A lot of people are coming out to all the shows, which makes everything more enjoyable. And we've been playing a lot of really great rooms.

At Bonnaroo, the power for the entire festival went out during the third song of our set. But the crowd was so amazing and enthusiastic that we kept playing and the crowd just kind of took over and clapped along.

Wow – I was there, and I don't even remember that!

Really! Well, there you go. That's a relief. We had no idea what was going on at that moment – we just knew that we had lost power to all of our instruments. Jamie, our drummer, just kept playing. I feel like that wouldn't have happened anywhere except Bonnaroo.

How did you like Bonnaroo?

I thought they had the best lineup of all the summer festivals, so I was pretty excited to be a part of that. It's great to have an opportunity to play in front of that many people – that sort of thing rarely happens for us. And it's always a blast – never nerve-racking or anything like that. It was just a really big show.

Do you hear your new songs differently now that you've had a lot of chances to play them live?

Yeah, I hear them differently than I used to, when they just existed on the record. I'm still not sick of them, so that's a good sign – we're all pretty sick of the songs on Fort Nightly, our last record, at this point. I think what we succeeded doing this time is reducing the disparity between the quality of the live show and the recorded version. With Fort Nightly, it's pretty substantial, I think. But with It's Frightening, we kind of figured out the recording process. When you play the songs live, you start coming up with new ideas and things you wish you would have done, but that's just how it goes.

Was that one of your explicit goals going into the second album?

Yeah, absolutely. I think we were really, really concerned about getting the energy of us playing together on tape, and making it very performance-oriented as opposed to getting a perfect take. That adds some soul to it. It feels special then.

A lot of bands talk about the pressure associated with the second album: trying to maintain the momentum from the first while growing as a band and branching out a little. How did you manage that anxiety?

Well, Britt [Daniel – producer] was extremely enthusiastic from the get-go, when he heard the new material. It meant a lot to us to get such an enthusiastic response from a guy we respect so much. That really helped us through the whole process. I wouldn't say that we were really feeling that much anticipation, but there was some, because we had created an album before, and when we made the first record, we didn't think anybody was going to listen to it. We never really thought about that stuff. But Britt was really good about getting us to keep taking risks. We were aware that we were kind of changing the sound somewhat, but I feel like it's a pretty natural progression. He definitely helped me personally throughout that whole process and getting over the anxieties of making the second record. So it wasn't as bad as I heard it would be.

Looking back on the release of the album, do you see it as a turning point for White Rabbits?

It feels more like us. It's a really genuine expression of who we are. The shows have been way better, so it feels like something is different. It feels like a turning point for us. And we'll just continue to do that same thing every time.

It's a bit pared-down compared to the first album. Was that an effort to make it more organic?

Yeah. It's a lot harder to exercise restraint with six guys than it is to bang away. We still love doing that and there are a lot more loud, chaotic moments on this record than there are on Fort Nightly.

But it's always first and foremost about the song, and what serves the song best. Every musician says the same thing: you don't really know where those things come from, they just kind of happen. And then you just kind of mold what came to you in that moment. Some songs sounded best with a more minimalist approach, and some songs didn't. We really didn't want to go down the dangerous path of adding more and more and more and more. You never know when to stop. We felt that keeping it pared-down made it a lot more raw and exciting and risky. We still sound like six guys learning how to play together.

I like how you left a lot of the studio commentary on there.

Well, this was our first time recording on tape. It was a really fun time recording the record, and those little moments – they remind us of being in the studio, which was such a good time. Britt is a big proponent of keeping those small artifacts, those little small moments that happen once while we're recording that song.

There's not really any easy comparison for White Rabbits – do you like it that way?

Of course. Everybody loves to feel like they're creating something original and unique. And if that's the way you feel, then – thank you. Because we hear the opposite quite a lot.

Really?

Well, I don't know if I want to go down that path. Here's my take on it: it's the same story for every band. When bands are new, they haven't really built up a relationship with an audience, and they don't have a whole lot of music to look back on. It's just sort of an easy approach to define that band: “Oh yeah, they're just doing that thing.” And then you just kind of forget about it as they release more and more albums.

These are just growing pains in my eyes. I don't feel like those comparisons are very productive or thoughtful, and it's disappointing that people can be so dismissive so quickly, just based on that alone, after you work so hard. But whatever – that's not really my problem.

But the reception of the album has been pretty awesome hasn't it?

Oh yeah, I'm not trying to focus on the negative here! Everything's been...it's been a lot more exciting this time around.