The time comes in the life of every artist. It’s the intersection of a career where decisions have to be made.

And the road taken from there really can make all the difference.

”Any artist will come to that point, where you look at where you are at and you make sure you are setting high standards in your art,” says Michael Kang, mandolinist, violinist, violist and one of five vocalists in those standard bearers of their own, The String Cheese Incident.

The hard touring, genre blending jam band has built a loyal following along the way. Now they are asking those enthusiastic fans to trust them as the musicians hold the mirror up to themselves with what is for them a ground-breaking new album, the intriguingly named “Untying The Not.”

”We definitely in the last couple of years have been making a major re-assessment of what we wanted out of our career, our artistry and our lives in general,” Kang says.

“At first there wasn’t a question of what we wanted to do: do our thing. The necessity of being on the road and putting our message out has been all consuming. It took up all our energy and spiritual energy. Now that we are at a certain level of career we are creating new standards for ourselves and trying to open new doorways. Playing so many shows we have a pretty deep desire to make it a constantly evolving process. Sometimes it feels like it and something it doesn’t .We are taking a deeper look at what makes us tick. We are assessing our lives and what it means to play music. It always means different things to different people.”

Artists that don’t make that reassessment don’t always stick around, he reminds.

It’s difficult to do that soul-searching, Kang admits. “It’s not easy and it’s very challenging and a lot of times people don’t make it through it. It can be some tough times for a band.”

It can be akin to looking in a dark tunnel and not knowing what’s there, he says. “But if you are brave enough to look at the dark spaces, that’s where you find the most growth, I think.”

Hopefully something then will continue to happen that is positive, he adds. It’s about having faith in life and art, he says. “If you continue to do that, the experiences will be presented to you.”

All of which comes around again to that new CD, which even the String Cheese Incident’s press bio says, “simply put, it’s not the album you’d expect from SCI.”

”We didn’t really expect it from ourselves either. Hopefully we can continue to expect that from ourselves,” Kang says.

The primary difference with “Untying the Not” from previous albums, he explains, is that the group approached it as a conceptual piece of art, rather than a collection of songs. “The whole album had to take you on a journey. Before, our albums were a collection of where the band was at the time. The flow was not as thought out as deeply.”

The artistic goals for the CD were to place themselves in as many new situations as possible. “I was surprised at what ended up coming out of it,” he says.

It began with the group’s play-it-against-type choice of a producer: Youth, known for his work with Verve and Crowded House. He was, according to the group’s press bio, “the last producer anyone would have predicted for an SCI project.”

Kang recalls that he met Youth in Los Angeles and things just clicked. “There was something right about the vibe and energy. We were ready to go with another producer. This album has been for me an amazing kind of well of synchronicity, from the artwork to the music. It made me feel like this was all meant to happen exactly the way it did.”

Youth brought a real intention for wanting to make a great album, he says. “He has a wealth of creative knowledge we had never tapped in to before. At times it clashed. He is a real strong personality. In the end his ultimate purpose was to make a great album. I would work with him again for sure.”

The result is a musical adventure that does not forget about SCI’s improvisational spirit while reaching into the arena of dance, abstract monologues, introspective moments and more.

Kang says it was the most challenging and exciting work the band has ever done in the studio. It was no less than a metaphorical rebirth for SCI, he adds.

He wants people to take a feeling of hope from the music of String Cheese Incident. “That’s what I’m looking for in life right now. Anything I can do as an artist and musician to instill hope in other people is kind of what I’m looking for,” he says. “There is just kind of an energetic outpouring of positivity in the world that can be found in as many places as you want to look.”

How does he maintain such a positive outlook?

”Luckily I find myself with amazing people. Some people want you to be slaves to the fear they are generating. True revolution comes from within and saying, ‘I’m not going to buy into that bullshit, into that preconceived notion of what the world is supposed to be.’ “

In that spirit, the band’s artist-to-fan ticketing company, SCI Ticketing, recently filed a lawsuit against Ticketmaster for alleged anti-trust violations.

According to Neil Glazer, a band attorney, SCI Ticketing “had no other recourse than to take legal action.”

Keith Moseley, String Cheese Incident bassist/vocalist, adds, “The decision to sue Ticketmaster was not one entered into lightly. But artists are losing control of how much our tickets cost the concertgoers. Through SCI Ticketing we can offer our fans a more convenient service at a less expensive price, so that option deserves to exist. We hope that filing this lawsuit has positive ramifications that will reach well beyond The String Cheese Incident community and benefit all artists and consumers.”

The band does not take its fans lightly, Kang assures. “Our fans made it happen for us. From the beginning it was not like the press was giving us lots of props. Rolling Stone never said anything nice about us (he laughs). Our fans make it happen, so we are the ones that make it happen for them. It’s a direct relationship. Without them trading the music with each other, we never would have happened.”

String Cheese Incident, he says, is trying to create an experience where people can have as much of a good time as possible. “We want to be able to touch people’s hearts and minds. For us, within the band, it’s been a long journey getting to know each other and feeling as if we have to act as community. The bigger thing for me, and what I look for in my life, is creating community around you, and within that community find that strength to push each other creativity and become better people. We try to be as honest and flexible as possible.”

SCI is looking to create a safer place for people to be expressive, he says. “A safe place for people to freak freely (he laughs) in this day and age is becoming a rare thing. The government is coming down on people’s expression, the freedom to just go out there and believe what we believe in.”

Editor's Note: One of the best performances I have seen is by SCI on PBS's show Austin City Limits. A copy of this show can be purchased at http://www.pbs.org/klru/austin/