While some musicians write about scenarios they created, Stop Light Observations went back to their roots — literally. Swapping the modern studio for an old plantation house on the Toogoodoo River in South Carolina, they channeled the sights, sounds and overall spirit of the area to create their new album, appropriately titled Toogoodoo.

We spoke with John-Keith "Cubby" Culbreth about the new record, why they skipped the studio and the story behind "Aquarius Apocalyptic."

Homebase: Charleston, SC

How was the approach to Toogoodoo different from Radiation?

Toogoodoo was live-tracked in a plantation house on the Toogoodoo River. We live-tracked every song until the perfect take was achieved, and every time we finished “the one” there was a certain supernatural energy that was captured in its recording. It was a very spiritual and delicate process that required a 100% creative team camaraderie. After the first song was successfully finished, there was an unexplainable feeling that for the first time ever we had became a true “band.”

Not a group of five people that played music together, but a single immortal soul embodied by five flesh bodies to create a small word that describes a giant achievement…a band. Today’s music industry is so obsessed with sonically perfected singles that the authentic “band” feeling has become a rarity. Where this album lacks sonic perfection, we believe it overcompensates with its authentic band energy and its story.

Radiation was recorded in a studio with pro gear and was live-tracked... So when I messed up my part I did it over and over again and dubbed and pasted thing to make my mistakes seem perfect.

What was it like to record in a place with so much history?

I found some pictures actually yesterday of Toogoodoo Bluff before it was restored and relocated. It looked like the scariest most haunted place you have ever seen. It was abandoned the middle of the woods and was found and restored and taken down piece by piece to be relocated. It's older than our country and has seen it all. It's filled with spirits and past energy like you can't even imagine. You simply have to be there. To record an album live in that energy is unexplainable but the least I can say is that the house is without a doubt the 6th instrument in the record.

What were the advantages and disadvantages of that?

Advantages is that it is real and rich with ancient spirit and heart, the disadvantage is lacking sonic perfection.

And why did you decided to title the LP, Toogoodoo?

The house is a place where we grew up as kids, learned to rebel, had psychedelic experiences, made love, where I wrote my first song, caught fish, paddled to the intercostal, not to mention its own bigger than life aura...the house and the river is so important we had to name the album after it.

What's "Aquarius Apocalyptic" about?

Because the song was created in such a strange circumstance, the meaning is much deeper than what words could describe. However, what I can say is that a song that may sound like word jambalaya at a first listen is far beyond the mistaken assumption. The satire-like array of lyrics is played as a joke, but is intentional to the meaning. It is a fact that global climate change is here and on its way. It is a fact that the earth is overpopulated. It is a fact that underlying racial, religious and classist separations are being exfoliated to the surface of discussion. It is a fact that technology is exponentially growing. The world is rapidly changing. It is a fact.

What is to come no one knows. Yet whatever it is, it will be magnificent in scale. It is called the Age of Aquarius to many and is described as the age of enlightenment. Some believe that the human race will reach a unity of light and awareness in this time that is to come. On the other end many people believe the world is going to end and that the human race will be eradicated through a trial of facing the pile of selfish mistakes we continue to make. They call it an Apocalypse. This song is the belief in both. The yin and the yang. The idea that those who reach for positive action and altruistic thought will indeed experience the Aquarius, and for those that do not...well...the apocalypse is the experience that lies ahead.

How has Charleston inspired your sound?

Charleston is everything to us. Our sound is the culture that has filled us. The marsh, the people, the islands, the Gullah influence, the food...everything. There is a reason it is the #1 travel city in the world right now!

What song is the funnest to perform?

For me, it is "Give to Get" or "Aquarius Apocalyptic."

What are the plans for the rest of 2016?

To get inspired by the world and hope to give some back....resurrecting rock n' roll and becoming a headline act would be nice too