"It’s pretty together." – Sterling Morrison, mumbling casually to Lou Reed on the Velvet Underground’s "Temptation Inside Your Heart," 1969.

It’s been a tale of two cities, four guys, six albums and 10 years. And throughout it all, Sloan have kept it, you know, pretty together. Not bad for a band that was rumoured to have broken up more times than the Who and Ramones combined following their 1994 cult classic TWICE REMOVED. And not bad for a band that’s witnessed firsthand a cultural shift from thrift-store flannel and Docs to clip-on brow rings and fake tribal tattoos, all while standing their ground in a trusty pair of Converse All-Stars, a warm wool sweater and a worn-out pair of corduroys. When you’ve committed yourself to a lifelong quest for the perfect power-pop song, you may as well be comfortable, you know?

"At some point in the early ’90s, the fake punk and the jock met and just created the most reprehensible, objectionable fucking creature and took over," observes drummer Andrew Scott. "But I always prefer being the constant underdog – and now I feel our time is nigh."

Them’s fighting words, but you can afford to a bit cocky when you’re part of what could very well be the first band ever to boast FOUR principal songwriters (make all the Beatles comparisons you want, but Sloan’s drummer writes tunes way cooler than "Octopus’ Garden"). Resident AC/DC expert Patrick Pentland packs a seemingly bottomless arsenal of instant-impact riff-rockers; scissorkickin’ bassist Chris Murphy serves his pop with a tasty twist of cool cynicism; gentle Jay Ferguson lends the band an air of sophisticated craftsmanship; while drummer Andrew Scott fearlessly floats off to the stratosphere to sing with the people of the sky.

But where 1999’s BETWEEN THE BRIDGES evenly divvied up songwriting chores White Album-style -- to the point where it could almost pass for a compilation of four equally rich solo EPs – Sloan’s PRETTY TOGETHER brings it all back home again. Not to their native Halifax, mind you – all four Sloaners have been calling Toronto home for years – but to the free, experimental, collaborative spirit of the band’s 1992 debut SMEARED, back to a time before the band was defined by clap-along radio and MuchMusic standards like "The Good In Everyone" and "Money City Maniacs." "I started listening to a lot of My Bloody Valentine again," says Ferguson of the post-BRIDGES downtime, "and for a while I wanted to make Smeared Part 2, and revisit our My Bloody Valentine and Ride roots. I definitely wanted more reverb and more space on the record than we had in a while, because a lot of stuff we’ve recorded in the past has been quite dry. I wanted a wet album!"

But instead of dusting off those trusty fuzz and delay pedals, Sloan found themselves setting up shop in their rehearsal space and playing with elements they’d never previously explored: computer home-recording software, drum loops and perhaps the most crucial element – time. Time to revisit incomplete song fragments and reshape them into new structures; time to piece together ideas from different members into cohesive collaborative song forms; and time to further develop a creative relationship with producer Brenndan McGuire, who went from having to rush-produce BETWEEN THE BRIDGES in six weeks to, over the course of a year and a half of recording PRETTY TOGETHER, becoming the honorary fifth Sloaner.

"We did BETWEEN THE BRIDGES in six weeks," Murphy reveals. "The truth of the matter is it was a political situation: we each got three songs; it’s not like we had anyone saying, ‘Put all the songs in a hat and pick the best ones.’ This time around, I was able to collaborate with everyone, and I think I had something to do with almost every song. When you have time, it makes everyone more open. When you only have six weeks and you make a critical comment, it sticks like a personal attack for that period of time, but when you have time to let it wear off, it’s like, ‘OK, maybe we’ll try that.’"

"When we started recording," Pentland relates, "the big record at the time was the Flaming Lips’ THE SOFT BULLETIN, which had lots of synths, and that was the sound I wanted: something darker, with more keyboards, less rock. There had been some heavy things that happened in my life, and I really didn’t want a poppy, friendly record. But then our manager listened to what we were working on and was like, ‘You guys are a really good live rock band – why are you making this record?’ And by that point we were getting sick of that darker direction."

"We always tend to go into making a new record thinking, ‘Let’s do something completely off the wall!’" says Scott. "And then by the time it’s done, it’s basically one notch away from the last one in terms of song structures and styles."

So lest all this tech-talk has you fearing Sloan have gone electro, PRETTY TOGETHER’s opener, "If It Feel Good Do It," should rock yer ass back to reality, with Murphy joining Pentland in a killer two-way performance that forges a karmic connection to 1991’s breakthrough "Underwhelmed." You want more? The thundering "In the Movies" blows Keith Moon’s casket out of the ground, Murphy dials in with his best Paul Stanley on "Pick It Up and Dial It" and the swirling psych-out "Never Seeing the Ground for the Sky" rides a lysergic locomotive groove into the heart of the sun.

But PRETTY TOGETHER ain’t all money-city mania either. Say hello to an album about goodbyes and unrequited romantic longing, presenting a series of unflinching portraits of distant desires (the stark "The Life of a Working Girl," the aching desperation of "Dreaming of You," the dangerous come-on of "The Other Man") and ones that drive a stake straight into the heart of the matter (the majestic, melancholic "I Love a Long Goodbye," the absolutely devastating "Are You Giving Me Back My Love"), before the darkness breaks on the closing "Your Dreams Have Come True" and the sweet harmonies, soothing shuffle-beat and breezy brass fadeout let you know that everything is gonna be alright. With SMEARED holdover Dave Ogilvie (Skinny Puppy) returning to oversee the final mix, PRETTY TOGETHER processes the most stirring moments of 20th century rock – from George Harrison’s ALL THINGS MUST PAST to Kiss ALIVE! to the Smiths’ THE QUEEN IS DEAD to the first Stone Roses album – into pure 21st century Sloan. And yes, it sounds pretty together.

"Our mindset was to have more fun with this one, because we didn’t have anything to lose," Pentland says. "I think we work better together when the deck is stacked against us. If everything’s going our way, we tend to scatter. It’s always when things are getting fucked that everybody comes together. The coolest times on tours are when you’re playing the shittiest club in the shittiest little town in America, and everyone’s hanging out together on the bus watching movies and having fun."

"I feel rejuvenated," Ferguson declares. "This band is basically everything to me, and I want our band to be huge. When I was growing up I liked bands that had their own corner and niche and when they got really big, it took some of the specialness out of it. But if the music’s good that shouldn’t matter, and I want to show people that there’s still good music in Canada."

Hey, if it feels good, do it.