When Winnipeg pop rock band The Waking Eyes decide that it's going to spend some time writing songs, it doesn't do much else.

It's as if the members put on white coats, enter the pop rock laboratory, lock the door and throw away the key.

A creative period starting in fall 2005 finally wrapped in summer 2007, leaving the band with a three-CD collection of rarities and B-sides, two full-length albums released as side projects, and Holding On To Whatever It Is, the new record officially (well, physically) released last week.

Singer/guitarist Matt Peters says while there never is a dearth of tunes to choose from, he felt a bit overwhelmed by the amount of material they had.

"I would say overwhelmed is the right word," Peters says. "It's weird because we could have taken it in a number of directions. On the last record we chose a more focused approach and on this one we started thinking about which songs were our favourites and what songs would move us the most.

"We weren't going to have a 6/8 (tempo time) mopey album, and that's a direction we could have gone. It was the whole process of coming back to our roots and realizing that eclectic, all-over-the-place approach to songwriting and recording. We weren't concentrating too much on, 'Okay does this sound incredibly cohesive?'"

Peters says the band -- drummer Steve Senkiw, bassist Joey Penner and guitarist/singer Rusty Matyas -- had about two dozen songs written before they could see the initial framework of a record. Yet they kept writing, often working in various writing combinations to see what would come out.

Peters also says tracks such as Get Me To The Doctor and the title track helped to shape the album's overall feel.

"Those songs weren't initially even considered until about three months before we went and started recording," Peters says. "They'd been different than anything we had been writing and they had kind of been more solo adventures. But it all just came together. Suddenly it became a lot more exciting to us."

And unlike some previous efforts, Holding On To Whatever It Is is an album that won't be recreated live exactly as the studio versions.

"Sure, there was the consideration of how can we pull this off, but at the same time it didn't dictate how we recorded, or what instruments we chose," he says. "We were just confident that at the end of the day we'll be able to reduce it down to the most essential elements and pull it off live."

Musically the album starts off sounding like classic Crowded House on the title track, but it moves through dance rock to chipper, tight power pop on Clap Clap and All Empires Fall, then to the waltzy, downbeat Wolves At The Door.

Those diverse styles were assisted by producer and pal John Paul Peters.

"He really facilitated whatever kind of creative adventure," Peters says. "He spoke our language musically and that's sometimes an issue when you're working with a producer. It's so abstract to find someone you can relate to and you can express an idea to verbally that they understand sonically."

This month the band has a stint at the El Mocambo, playing there the first three Thursdays of the month. Peters says a Western and Eastern Canadian tour is in the cards and they would like to tour the States and Europe.

Just don't expect a bevy of songs from previous albums.

"We're not the Beatles," Peters says. "People are not going to be pissed off if they don't hear certain songs."