New romantics - Rosebuds' Howard and Crisp.

It takes a band with some guts (and a strong sense of itself) to throw a career curveball of the sort that the Rosebuds have thrown. After two full-length albums and an EP of rollicking and amiable pop, the North Carolina husband-and-wife duo of Kelly Crisp and Ivan Howard unveiled Night of the Furies, a challenging record that harkens directly to the New Romantic era. But for all of the new record's direct and unwavering style, Howard and Crisp had no intent to make Furies into the dance-rock piece that it became. Speaking from their home in Raleigh, Crisp illuminates how the Rosebuds came to make such a throwback record.

"We recorded so many songs that were all over the place," explains Crisp, "but this bunch of songs that [made it onto] Furies, they sounded complimentary to each other, so that's how they ended up on the record. If we [ever] set out to write a certain kind of song, I bet it would sound flat and kind of gross, like if we'd sat around a board meeting and tried to figure out what's hot right now and then make that record."

Those bands that are generally regarded as part of the New Romantic scene (Visage, Ultravox, Spandau Ballet, etc.) are probably not what spring to mind in relation to the Rosebuds. And while it's doubtful that Ivan or Kelly will don Adam & the Ants face paint on their tour, there's no denying Furies highlights like "I Better Run" and "Cemetery Lawns" are awash in hallmarks of the New Romantic style.

"What's weird about it is that we're just normal people living in North Carolina," says Crisp. "What seems cool to me about the term "New Romance' is that it seems like an artistic movement that you could catalogue. But it's far removed from our real lives — we both grew up on dirt roads in North Carolina. Conceptually, I'm excited by [the comparisons], but there's no realistic way that we could ever try and be a part of a movement like that. It's certainly not what we intended to do."

So, while a cursory listen to the record might lead one to a "style over substance" view of the Rosebuds and their progression, that would ignore Furies' weighty subject matter. Tracks like "My Punishment for Fighting" and the extremely danceable "Get Up Get Out" are pretty intense tales beneath their bouncy exterior. Throughout, the titular Roman goddesses (known for punishing citizens for crimes that had otherwise been unpunished) are the glue that holds the project together.

"The Furies became a way for us to discuss larger issues," expounds Crisp. "We were able to discuss things that are important to us without sounding too prosaic. The Furies became our blanket metaphor to operate under. It gave us security from sounding too much like newscasters or a pundit convention. We still feel like we're saying the same things — politically, content-wise — it's still as important as the message we wanted to say literally, but now we say it figuratively."

Crisp and Howard also enjoyed a rare opportunity this winter when they were invited to play in Russia. The return trip offered the chance to put things all in perspective for Crisp and Howard.

"We were in JFK airport after we'd been in Russia and we're stuck there because of the snow," begins Crisp. "We were having dinner at Chili's or some shit in the airport, and I looked at Ivan and laughed and said, "Do you realize that we were in Moscow this morning having breakfast with Ian Brown?' Most of the time we don't notice what we're doing because it's normal and natural. But sometimes we have that glimpse."