When pushed, Matt Talbott of Hum will tell you that his band met in the

chimpanzee herding area of the Nairobi Zoo. While this is probably a lie, on the

surface, at least, it's not totally untrue either.

The quartet's spacey, guitar-driven drone comes together in such a way as to

evoke images as foreign and exotic as the Kenyan capital.

The 10 tracks on Hum's recently released fourth album, Downward Is

Heavenward, flirt with many of the same untraditional soundscapes covered

on its predecessor, You'd Prefer An Astronaut, focusing on drastic shifts

in dynamics and sweet guitar tones playing off of heavy-metal riffs.

Although recently forced to scratch 11 tour dates after a van accident in

Canada, the group expects to rebound to play a Sunday show at Lowell

Heritage State Park in Boston and a July 5 slot opening for the Smashing

Pumpkins at the Marcus Amphitheater in Milwaukee.

Much of the music that Hum play during these shows will likely come off the new

album.

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Hum/Isle_Of_The_Cheetah.ram">"Isle Of

The Cheetah" (RealAudio excerpt) kicks off the new long-player with a

quiet, melodic guitar intro that yields to the full swell of the band's pounding

attack, with drums punctuating the sonic maelstrom conjured by the thorough

meshing of bass and guitars.

"We were a little confused after the last record," said the 30-year-old

singer/guitarist of himself and bandmates bassist Jeff Dimpsey, guitarist Tim

Lash and drummer Bryan St. Pere. "It took some time to adjust to having to

promote a record, something we had no interest in. We fought that a little bit,

but I think we've learned to accept it as part of the business."

The Champaign, Ill.-based foursome rocketed to prominence three years ago

with the release of You'd Prefer An Astronaut, which soared halfway to

gold status, largely on the meteoric wings of the song

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Hum/Stars.ram">"Stars"

(RealAudio excerpt). Now, with a new album out and about, the band is

establishing its sound and character as sometimes subtle and musically

complex.

"When you first hear it, you hear the guitars, bass and drums," said Pogo

Studio's Mark Rubel, who co-produced and recorded the album. "After you

hear it six, 10, 12 times, you hear things beneath the surface, overdubs and

things that make it interesting."

Talbott -- whose lyrics and song titles such as "Apollo" and "The Scientists"

hover in the stratosphere and beyond, with a steady stream of references to

rockets, space travel and planets -- admitted to a childhood obsession with

astronomy that has lingered well into adulthood.

While

HREF="http://www.addict.com/music/Hum/If_You_Are_To_Bloom.ram">"If You

Are To Bloom" (RealAudio excerpt) seems headed in a similarly

transcendental direction, Talbott says the lyrics -- "Dreamt of a jet this high/

seeing clouds from the other side" -- are not part of his space fixation.

"It's about a death more than anything else," Talbott said of the tune. "I just write

about whatever comes into my head. Write and rewrite. The songs are more

location-specific than anything else."

In the same way that Hum are learning to promote their album through

interviews and other marketing plans, they also have begun to accept the

importance of radio in their musical world. While Talbott dismisses what most

stations play as worthless these days, he is quick to realize the media's place in

helping make a name for his band.

"It's like that Groucho Marx thing of never wanting to be in a club that would

have you as a member," he said.