With Mae scheduled to release Singularity on August 14th, Fuss Magazine was able to grill drummer, Jacob Marshall, on the upcoming album and the band.

Just like your website asks, what is mae?

Mae is a search for the intersection of perception, emotion and meaning. Where the physical meets the spiritual. It is also a group of dudes from Virginia who play music together.

Singularity is scheduled to hit stores Aug 14, 2007, what should fans expect? Anything that could possible shock or will we just have to wait?

Well, this has been a season of searching for our band. There is a lot of restlessness in this record, a search for peace and meaning that often ends in frustration as the easy answers to seemingly easy questions begin to fall apart and show us how little we really know about both our physical reality and our illusive spirituality. There is an edge to this record that might surprise some long time fans but I believe anything "shocking" will dissipate after a few listens.

What does the title Singularity represent?

There is an Australian scientist named Paul Davies that we were reading a lot during the writing process and he described "singularity" as "the ultimate unknowable in science... the interface between the natural and the supernatural." This idea was really compelling because as modern human beings we are taught to have a divorced approach to the physical and the spiritual. In my experience with religion, I regrettably found that science was often viewed as the enemy of faith. In education, the spiritual is often unfortunately reduced to a fairy tale that should be abandoned after you are old enough to read Nietzsche. Music and art however, keep showing up and teaching us that there is always more going on than we understand. I guess singularities are most obvious physical examples that spiritual questions are still worth asking.

What doors have opened or closed after signing with Capitol?

The doors at Capitol closed for a quick second the day our record was finished being mixed. We were at home listening to the final mix of our record and we got a call from our manager saying not to panic but that Capitol Records had just merged with Virgin Records, and this was probably going to change a lot of things for us. We were definitely anxious and things got messy as 90% of the staff at Capitol was laid off. We honestly wondered for a short while if we were going to become one of those horror stories you always hear. Fortunately, after the dust settled we had some support in the new regime and we are hoping that August 14th opens a lot of doors.

I was a big fan of Destination: Beautiful; how do you guys feel the band has evolved coming up to Singularity?

Thank you. We have learned a whole lot in the past five years of touring and creating music together. Evolution by its very nature often goes unnoticed until someone outside the process gasps and says, “Wow, what the hell happened here?" We hope that is a good, "what the hell?" for most people because it has certainly been good for us and taught us a lot. I feel like we have a lot to say.

If you had the opportunity to collaborate or work with a particular artist, who would it be and why?

We actually worked with one of our favorite artists, Kenna, on a track called "Novocaine". It is probably my favorite song from this entire session but it will only be available on our Japanese release. I am sure we will find a way to leak it out there somehow though.

I was able to catch your show at Gypsy Tea Room in Dallas, and first off, great show! What is it that you want your fans to get from a mae show?

Again, thank you. We love playing in Dallas. It took awhile to get off the ground there but its been amazing the last few years. I think the goal of any show is to connect the people in the room with the feeling that inspired the song in the first place. We want people to look around and see that music is not only connecting them to a feeling, but to a room full of other people they don't even know. Connection of any kind is worth celebrating.

As the shows get bigger and your fans and venues get larger, (less personal), what do you not want to happen?

We don't want to lose that sense of connection.�

What is your favorite new artist?

My favorite new artist is Kenna (but he has been around for awhile).�

Any non-musical aspirations?

I helped produced a movie about Andrew McMahon from Jack's Mannequin and his battle to overcome leukemia and return to music. It is a powerful story and I am honored to have been a part of telling it. Brett Brownell (who directed our DVD and webisodes) and I have a small film production company called Astorya and I would like to continue telling stories we believe are important.

What is the MaeTeam all about? What can fans expect if they get involved with MaeTeam?

Maeteam is just another extension of that connection. We wanted to create a place where fans could interact directly with us and with each other. Brett has worked really hard to spearhead this and I am really proud of the community that has emerged.��

What is your favorite show on television?

It was the Sopranos... R.I.P. Now I usually just watch Entourage, Rob and Big, and whatever is playing on the Discovery Channel.

Whats on your ipod?

A lot of good music and one bad movie!

What is your best and worst interview question?

There are no bad questions, only bad answers... like the one above.�

Have the webisodes been received well by fans? Will they somewhat continue post release of Singularity?

The webisodes have been a fun way to introduce the new music to people. I think it helps when people can attach a sense of the process to the record. Recording is such a human endeavor and a lot of times that gets missed.

Any last comments/messages.

BEAR T.IA MART.