Gomez's sixth studio album, A New Tide, released in 2009, marked a new direction in the band's songwriting process. With members scattered across two continents, from Brooklyn to Brighton, England, early tracks for the album were written and recorded individually and then merged together online. The band then convened in Chicago, IL and Charlottesville, VA, with producer Brian Deck, to bring together and finalize the album and create instant classics such as "Airstream Driver", Little Pieces", and "If I Ask You Nicely".