In the years following Will Courtney's return from L.A. to play music with his sister Lily, Brothers & Sisters have left a significant footprint on the Austin music scene. Their style, a pop-folk sound untarnished by passing trends in indie rock, garnered national recognition by way of their first album, a self-titled record on Calla Lily. Though their vast array of players might obscure this, Brothers & Sisters are at their best when using a variety of voices and instruments to focus on the small things: a great harmony, an elegant melody or a joyful unison of multiple layers. Their new record carries on in this tradition, but as Will Courtney explained to us in a recent interview, Fortunately is significantly bigger than previous efforts. But don't get confused: there's no ProTools or Autotune happening here. Courtney & Co. recorded to two inch tape and maintain a philosophy that's hard to stick to in today's recording and production climate, utilizing their flaws and imperfections to capitalize on one thing they've got in spades: authenticity. Check out new songs this weekend at Club Deville, as Brothers & Sisters celebrate Fortunately along with openers, Shapes Have Fangs. For now, read what Brother Will had to say when we touched base last month.

You've been in Austin for a few years now -- is the transition treating you well? Have you found the music community here to be all you thought it would be?

Honestly, my expectations weren't too high for this town or Texas in general. I love Texas, but didn't think it would be as easy to get things done as it was in California. I had lived here a little before I moved to LA and was focused on different things back then. I wasn't a part of the music community. When I decided to move back it was more because I was bored and wanted to try something else. I love LA and love my friends there, but I've moved around all of my life. I think I went to 8 different schools before I graduated high school and that has kind of stuck with me. It was a bonus that I found a band so fast and so many great friends and musicians. The music community in this town I like no other. The more we tour, the more we realize how special Austin really is.

What does the lineup look like currently? Do you get to a point where it feels like everything fits and will stay put for a while, or do you enjoy the spontaneity and flexibility a various cast gives you over time?

Currently we have 6 people that you'll see onstage at every show. This is what I'd call the core group. We've recorded together, toured together and don't see that changing. We've become very comfortable with this line-up, but I'm sure you'll see new additions in the future. I still love the sound of lots of guitars and tambourines and keyboards all playing together, but its also nice to have space on stage.

After reading about your music for years and reading the phrase "sun drenched" only a dozen times, it seems like a Californian recording session was inevitable, though.

Well, we started to record in California. We began with what we thought was an EP. That probably won't come out, though I'm sure the songs will show up somewhere, sometime. We all traveled out there to do a month long residency and tour the west coast last summer and figured we should record in our down time. We planned on going back there and recording more, but then we started thinking about the ease of just staying in Austin where there are tons of places to record.

We decided to do it at Cacophony Recorders. Erik Wofford engineered and I produced it. We really loved working there on the east side with the big windows looking out on the river. As far as the process goes, we recorded the basic drums, bass and scratch guitar and vocals live over a weekend. It went fast. When you're working on a smaller budget, its important that you practice beforehand because you don't get the luxury to just sit around and invent parts. That helped us record pretty fast. Most vocals were done in a few takes. Several of my lead vocals on the record are the first take. Lily's vocals and tambourine and percussion were done really fast as well. The guitar and pedal steel and keyboard took the longest because of all the layering, but even that, we tried to get done in a few takes. I think its important to do it fast or else it loses a lot of the spirit we wanted to feel on the record.

What can long-time fans and new listeners alike expect from the new songs? Is there one thing about this record that you really want people to know? An influence, sound or technique that played a major role?

A bigger album. I think it has better songs - several that we've been playing live for the last year. I think it feels like a band that has been playing together for a while. Its very different from the first record where it was mostly my sister and me with friends and hired musicians. I guess the thing I want people to know about this record when they listen to it is to understand that we didn't use a lot of modern gear or recording techniques. We didn't use Pro Tools to record and mix. We recorded it on 2-inch tape and mixed it down to tape. That was very important to me. I think the problem with most modern recordings is that the spirit of those older albums we all grew up on seems to be gone. I think a lot of that is our obsession with making sure everything is perfect. I hate pitch tweaking. So many bands rely on that now. If you can't sing on pitch and that bothers you, then stick to being a player, not a singer. Don't fix it in the studio. It sounds like a fucking robot to my ears. Nowadays they even tweak the instruments as well, making sure every beat is perfect, every guitar note intonated like a Kelly Clarkson record. Believe me, I'm aware of every single imperfection on this record. We sound like human beings.