"We have some horn parts [on the record], but they're really subtle," he says. "Mark Mullins is on there, Tony Dagradi from Astral Project played some flute on a couple of songs ... and we had a string quintet come up and record strings for four songs. They're not just your gratuitous strings, like padding in the background. They're really nice."

Okay, wait a minute. Flutes? Strings? Better Than Ezra? Can the local kings of carbonated guitar pop be losing their infectious edge?

Such a dulling would be understandable. Being dissed by the Smashing Pumpkins' Billy Corgan in the pages of Rolling Stone alone might be enough to throw any artist's musical gyroscope off-kilter. But fear not. When fans flock to the band's friday night show at Howlin' Wolf, they won't get a 30-minute song suite or some other such sign of classic-rock pomposity that signifies a band out of touch with its roots -- or its audience.

As anyone who caught the power trio's Mardi Gras shows or its surprise gig as "Manwich" at Mermaid Lounge a couple of months ago will readily attest, Better Than Ezra is still hitting on all cylinders. It's just that, as Griffin explains, BTE members are sowing their creative oats on this project.

"There's no roots rock on this album, that's for sure," Griffin says with a laugh. "Not that there's anything wrong with that. We're getting into deepter rhythms and grooves; it's definitely something you can move your hips to. It has a very consistent theme and sound, more so than our other albums, I think."

"With anything you do, you're going to win fans and lose fans, and I'm sure that's what we'll do [with this record], but we're all really happy with it, and that's what matters. It's basically us saying, 'These are our songs, this is the kind of band we are, now how can we present this in a way that we haven't before and try something new?'"

The answer to that question, apparently, is to break outside of the pleasurable but constraining bonds of the guitar, bass and drums format so endemic to threee-chord rock 'n' roll. To that end, the band has experimented not only with strings and horn arrangements but also with instrument changes (Griffin eschews the guitar entirely for a Rhodes piano on some cuts) and more modern accoutrements, such as sampling.

"Right now, it's become cliche when you hear a rock band say they're using a lot of loops and samples and stuff, but I'd be lying if I said we weren't," he says. "There are a lot more experimental sounds, little musical interludes between songs."

For his part, Griffin seems very aware of the possiblility that the group's new album could be too radical for fans of the band's signature guitar-driven pop, which was crisp and smar on its major-label debut, Deluxe, and matured into a more thoughtful, diverse, and even groovy sound on Friction, Baby. (The band's producer is Malcolm Burn, who worked with Daniel Lanois and recorded the Neville Brothers' seminal Yellow Moon.)

After all, the spectre of uneven forays into electronica by acts such as U2 and Madonna still linger with the record-buying public. But Griffin has faith in the material and in fans' reactions to it, in large part due to the ease and natural feel of the sessions.

"Nothing's worse than trying to force some kind of sound," he says. "But everything has been very natural and tasteful. It's been a very easy transition -- it's totally natural. If anything, we've had to pull ourselves back a bit, because it became so natural we thought we might have gone too far.

"There ar songs that are car candy, nothing more than fun songs, and I like that. And then there's definitely a side where we as musicians are getting excited." The album currently is scheduled for a late August release. In the meantime, Griffin, bassist Tom Drummond and drummer Travis McNabb are eagerly anticipating their brief homecoming after the warm responses they recieved during their last visit.

"Debuting new material was just a blast, and we got a lot of feedback from fans," Griffin says. "We're not on the road right now, and you get rusty. It's a different beast being in the studio. It's always exciting to play new music, and there's always this anticipation when a new album's coming out. And Jazz Fest -- gosh. We hope we're at the level where we can always play Jazz Fest."