Foals' Yannis Philippakis thinks the departure of Walter Gervers led the band to "form a good perspective".
Foals in 2016
The 32-year-old singer has revealed the group have developed an exciting "new dynamic" since Walter left the band whilst they were recording their fifth studio album, 'Everything Not Saved Will Be Lost - Part 1'.
Reflecting on the change, Yannis explained: "The combination of Walter's departure and the self-imposed time off meant that we had the chance to form a good perspective of how to proceed. Having the time off allowed that desire to do it again.
"Like putting a percolator on the hob, you got to give it time until it's ready. This new dynamic felt fresh and took us out of our past methods.
"We were writing and approaching the studio in a different fashion. There was a hunger to write something new and a desire to feel like we were shedding skin."
The band consciously decided to adopt a more "open-ended" approach to their new album, according to Yannis.
He told Fader magazine: "We wanted to be more explorative and allow the process of being in the studio to be more open-ended. For 'What Went Down', we went in with finished songs and worked with a highly skilled and experienced producer.
"With this one, we went in with a much more open mindset. We had no idea how many songs we were going to write, where it was going to end up, how long it was going to take, and what form the songs would be in."
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