"My favorite bands are the ones where you put on the new album and say, `Oh my God, what have they done?' " said Better Than Ezra lead singer and guitarist Kevin Griffin in an interview this week. "I always think of (U2's) `The Unforgettable Fire' in that regard. `War' (U2's previous record) was this complete guitar- driven album, and suddenly here was this rhythmic, murky, lush sound. Listen to our album compared to others like that and you can totally see how we were inspired by what they did."

A similar experience awaits BTE fans. As the shock of the first track wears off, the new sounds begin relaxing back into familiar, melodic BTE territory -- but still somehow changed, evolved and matured from the one-two punches of the band's previous alt-rock hits ("In the Blood," "Good," "King of New Orleans").

The connection to U2's "The Unforgettable Fire" comes through the producer of "How Does Your Garden Grow" -- Malcolm Burn. Burn has worked with U2 and alongside "Unforgettable" producer Daniel Lanois. He also happens to be from New Orleans, Better Than Ezra's home base.

The hiring of Burn as producer was part of the trio's concerted effort to do something different with its third album. Griffin said the band aimed to shake themselves up a bit, some of which happened naturally. For instance, the band added a new drummer, Travis McNabb.

"With this album, we explored a lot of things we had touched on in earlier albums ... things like `Normal Town' and `Return of the Postmoderns' from the last album (`Friction, Baby'), things that were more rhythmic in nature instead of seeing how much you could rock. The addition of Travis really helped that effort," Griffin said. "The drummer we had prior to that was not very rhythmic or creative; he was a power-rock drummer. So with Travis we've been able to do those new things well and with style."

Each of the three members -- bassist Tom Drummond completes the trio -- switched instruments for a few of the new songs, too. Griffin said they wanted to recapture some of the excitement of an uneasy, first-time recording.

"We'd work the songs up on guitar, bass and drums, but then we'd get into the studio and say, `How can we approach this differently than we have in the past?' We started picking up instruments we weren't that proficient on. You know the sound of an early band when it doesn't really know what it's doing? There's more feeling than technical expertise. We wanted to coax ourselves into doing that, to bring back that certain naivete and excitement," Griffin said.

The on-again, off-again bursts of inspiration from producer Burn actually facilitated that effort. The song "One More Murder," for example, had been arranged originally -- at Burn's urging -- as a faster, Clash-type rock song ("Like `Magnificent Seven' from 'Sandinista,' " Griffin said). But after taking piano lessons from a teacher at Loyola, Griffin began playing the melody on the keys one day in the studio.

"I started putting piano chords to it and singing a little, and Malcolm flipped. He shouted, `Oh my God, keep playing that!' We did a 20-minute jam session on that song, which turned into the short version you hear on the album," Griffin said.

But why all the effort to change? The band's debut, 1994's "Deluxe," sold millions. The intense guitar-pop formula looked like it was a sure thing. Why jump off the gravy train?

The answer goes back to Griffin's earlier comment. He likes bands that change, that evolve, that don't don't stay in the same rut, and he believes most fans feel the same way.

"If you're in a band for a while and your sound stays the same while the musical tastes around you are changing, you find yourself saying, `I don't know any albums that sound like my band. In fact, I probably wouldn't even like my own band,' " Griffin said. "I mean, I love our albums, but we just weren't into guitar rock now. We're listening to things like DJ Shadow, Loop Guru and Bjork stuff, as well as, like, the Supergrass album, some bossa nova stuff."

This weekend's Stillwater show is the first date of the band's fall tour, following a summer of various fly-in gigs around the country. Fans can catch them there or -- depending on which direction you want to drive -- Sunday night at the Juke Joint in Springfield, Mo.