Lotus' next album has been mixed and on the runway since December of 2014, so the electro-rock troupe's members have been excited to get new music to their fans. The new single "Eats the Light" -- which Billboard is premiering exclusively below and will go on sale at digital retail outlets Friday -- is a harbinger of what's to come.

The track's urgent drive and stripped-down arrangement, a nod to Talking Heads' Remain In Light era, is part of a determined effort by the quintet to tap into Lotus' live sonic palette. "We kept stripping down layers to keep a very live arrangement and the mixing was approached in the same way," bassist Jesse Miller tells Billboard. "The main focus was to go towards things that were definitely dancey and really hooky, and as far as the arrangement kind of simplify things and go towards pretty classic song structures but definitely keeping that Lotus groove that kind of goes through all our music, no matter what styles the songs are in."

More simply put, less is more. "Yeah, definitely," Miller confirms. "That's one thing we always talk about but it's easy to get away from, especially when you have five musicians that can do a lot on their own. But we really tried to embrace the more simple choice on each of these tracks."

Listen to "Eats the Light" below.

The other major development on the as-yet-untitled album, which is due out during the spring, is that all of the tracks will feature vocals for the first time in Lotus' history. "Eats the Light" is sung by frequent Lotus collaborator Gabe Otto (Pan Astral) and the group tapped friends such as Mutlu and Steve Yutzy-Burkey for other tracks. "We just wanted to have an album that felt unified in that way," says Miller, who writes Lotus' material with his brother, keyboardist Luke Miller. "We like writing songs for singers, but since it's not a big part of our live show it's never something that we've ever gone all in on for a full album. To me it felt like natural progression from other things we're doing. It's not that much different than bringing somebody in to play a saxophone. You can still hear that Lotus sound; It never feels to me like it's Lotus featuring somebody else."

Lotus' 'Build' LP The First of Three New Albums

Miller expects 10 of the 18 tracks Lotus recorded to appear on the album, with the rest slated for a subsequent EP. The group's first live DVD, filmed during September of 2014, is also due out this year, and Lotus will be playing live throughout the year, most heavily during the fall. "We've already been writing a number of new things, too, so I'm excited to get back in the studio and star recording more stuff," he adds.