By DCist contributor Ryan Little

A lot of influential bands from the early ’90s have been playing reunion shows lately. Everyone from My Bloody Valentine to Pavement seems to be reaping the benefits of a shared sense of nostalgia. Not Built To Spill, though – they never broke up. Doug Martsch and his crew have been churning out solid albums and hitting the road since 1992, with no end in sight. Their particular blend of guitar-driven exploration and pop-centric melodies has rightfully remained an indie rock staple for the past 17 years.

In 2006, Built To Spill released You In Reverse, which actually charted higher than any of their previous albums. And the inviting accessibility of their newest single, “Hindsight,” only bodes well for the success of their next album. In a recent interview, we talked with Martsch about the making of their forthcoming record, There Is No Enemy, the secret to the band’s longevity.

So, after a lot of extensive touring, your next album, There Is No Enemy, comes out in October. How long has it been in the works?

Well, we actually worked on it for about a year and a half.

The song you recently released, “Hindsight,” hearkens back to some of your more pop-driven work rather than your more recent sprawling guitar epics. Will the rest of the album follow suit, or should we expect more guitar heroics to come?

Oh, it’s pretty diverse. So, that’s the only song that’s really quite like that. There’s all kinds of different stuff on there. It may be more poppy than guitar driven, I can’t really tell.

Did you have any specific goals or visions when you were writing the album?

Some of it’s kind of old, some of it’s from another time. When we write records, it’s just kind of a random group of songs. There’s never much of a vision or anything. We just try to treat each song and nail each song and see how they all fit together.