Remember the tropical orchestra of synthesizers, guitar, and strings created by Brian Eno and John Cale on “Spinning Away”, from their 1990 release Wrong Way Up? Now bring yourself back to the auditory pleasures of Robert Wyatt’s 1997 record, Shleep, with its uplifting vocals, quirky phrasing, and airy layers of synth and keyboards.

Luke Temple, lead singer of New York–based indie-rock outfit Here We Go Magic, isn’t afraid to say it: the two aforementioned pieces of music were the blueprints for his band’s latest album, Be Small, a blissful yet unsettled blend of yacht rock and future pop.

“It has an almost calypso island vibe mixed with some really weird, dark, dissonant synth sounds,” Temple tells the Straight over the phone from a tour stop in Chicago. “Sonically, the album is very indulgent, but the lyrical themes are about minimizing that. We talk a lot about settling for ordinary feelings—because we [the human race] are always so drawn to looking for those ‘extra good’ feelings and mystical experiences.”

For Temple, the phenomenon of everyday life was all he needed to write the band’s follow-up to 2012’s Nigel Godrich–produced A Different Ship. Instead of recruiting the famed Radiohead producer a second time, Temple and bandmate Michael Bloch opted to produce the album themselves from a home studio.

“You don’t have to answer to anybody when you work alone—you can just go into the rabbit hole. With a producer, you have an objective ear, but it’s easier to get self-indulgent,” says Temple.

The album’s title track speaks to his interest in glorifying the humdrum, as he sings “Stay low to the ground/be good in the dark/be small just as you are/in the calm of your sweet surrender.” In “Ordinary Feeling”, lyrics like “Do I wanna please me/something seizes me/this ordinary feeling” seem to describe Temple’s pervasive but comfortable uncertainty.

His desire to cut the fat in the band’s music is mirrored in his day-to-day life. He recently moved from Manhattan to upstate New York, and he’s kicked a drinking habit that came to light after the release of his last solo album, Good Mood Fool.

“I think I just went through a period where I was feeling more uncomfortable with myself, and booze was something I needed to feel relaxed,” says Temple, admitting that he’ll have the occasional drink every so often, “now that I’ve got a more mature relationship with it. Not drinking helps with my inner demons. I think I wrote just as much music when I was drinking, but I feel happier now.”

Temple also notes that, a week into its tour, his band’s small club performances have been going off without a hitch.

“We have a much more stripped-down palette for the live show, just two guitars, drums, and a bass guitar, with a little bit of that synth element,” he says. “It’s dense but it can be intimate.”

Here We Go Magic plays Fortune Sound Club on Saturday (November 7).