Azure Ray is, more or less, a pair of landlocked sirens who shed their songwriting scales every few years for the sake of reinvention. When they started making music together in high school, Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor were writing songs of an uplifting, poppier ilk, as demonstrated by their self-titled debut from over a decade ago. Since then, they’ve toyed with various approaches and audio flavors, fleshing out their poetic whispers as they experiment with synths, discordant harmonies, and the gentle thuds of a drum machine. With As Above So Below, which drops on Saddle Creek September 4, Orenda and Maria brought some friends aboard to make what they call “Azure Ray in an alternate universe” a reality: Andy LeMaster produced their previous album, Drawing Down the Moon (as well as numerous releases from Bright Eyes, the Dirty Truckers and R.E.M), and returned to the studio for Below, along with Todd Fink, Orenda’s husband and member of Omaha’s indie deity The Faint. We spoke with Orenda and Maria about changing dynamics, new beginnings for the band, and writing lullabies as they prepped for their tour in Birmingham, Alabama.