Days of the New leader Travis Meeks had a specific vision for the sound of the group's second album.

But, he said, he was the only one in the band who believed in it.

"There were some issues going on with [the band] being into the record and being into the music," Meeks, 20, said of his decision to part ways with the rest of the band last year. "It's like painting a picture and trying to have them involved. It wasn't working. They didn't see the same picture that I did" (RealAudio excerpt of interview).

Meeks said the main point of contention between his vision and that of his ex-bandmates was his desire to move away from the more straight-ahead grungy rock of such first-album hits as "Touch, Peel & Stand" (RealAudio excerpt) and toward a more melodic pop structure.

The image Meeks envisioned called for operatic female vocals, drum machines and electronic samples — a radical departure from the angst-filled acoustic rock of the band's platinum-selling, self-titled 1997 debut.

"Enemy" (RealAudio excerpt), the first single from the upcoming album, which is due Aug. 31 and also is self-titled, is an introduction to Meeks' refashioned sound.

Propelled by a bouncy dance beat and a repeated sample of a man saying "yeah," the song mixes Meeks' signature acoustic-guitar strumming and urgent vocals with electronic sounds and drum-machine rhythms.

The album, mixed by former R.E.M. producer Scott Litt, features a handful of studio musicians in place of guitarist Todd Whitener and bassist Jesse Vest. The band's former drummer, Matt Taul, played on two of the album's 14 tracks.

Meeks said he recorded the album over the past year, practically from sunup to sundown, at a studio he built in his hometown, Louisville, Ky.

"It was pretty much done whenever I woke up, and it was convenient for me to have a studio of my own to do this," he said in a lazy drawl. "The songs developed over a period of time, and the next thing you know, they sounded different. They kept progressing over time from starting out from just acoustics" (RealAudio excerpt of interview).

Days of the New seems to revel in sonic exploration, from the sampled stampeding horses and the spaghetti-western feel of the opening rock-opera number "Flight Response," to the equally dramatic "Skeleton Key," a chant-heavy, tribal-groove instrumental that verges on techno-trance territory.

Meeks has always been a man with a singular vision, according to the new album's engineer and co-producer, Todd Smith.

Smith said he met Meeks through the singer/songwriter's father, Louisville musician Gary Meeks. "[The elder Meeks] came in and said his son had been writing songs and could I let him have some studio time," Smith said. "He was 14, this little skittish, backward-looking dude with a shaved head, and he came in and I set him up at a microphone and he launched into 'Freak.' By the end of that take, I said, 'Holy sh--, this kid is really something.' "

Smith said it was immediately apparent Meeks' voice and innovative songwriting and guitar-playing style were well beyond his years.

"He knew what he was doing even then," Smith said. "He had a very clear artistic identity, which is half the battle for the artist. He was dialed directly into what he wanted to do." That vision is what allowed Meeks to experience what Smith called "staggering artistic growth" between his first and second albums.

Although Led Zeppelin's heavy rhythms appear to have influenced such songs as "Provider" and the flamenco-style rocker "I Think," Meeks says he likes a broad range of bands beside the heavy-metal legends.

"I just like musical stuff that's constant, not just heavy metal," Meeks said. "I'm not just stuck in a rock 'n' roll basis of doing things.

"I listen to [electronica act] the Crystal Method, 'Conan the Barbarian' soundtracks, classical music, [trance group] Dead Can Dance and all kinds of other stuff," he continued. "I used to listen to Iron Maiden, and I took elements from each individual that I liked and incorporated that into what I do."

One aspect of his sound Meeks said was not directly inspired by other bands was his decision to rely exclusively on acoustic guitars.

Meeks said his insistence on acoustic sounds is a challenge rather than a limitation. "I have an electric guitar, but it doesn't interest me to do power chord after power chord," Meeks said. "I'm more into picking and arrangement and composing on it with an orchestra and percussive instruments. The acoustic guitar is a very percussive, ethnic instrument."