Just because Montreal-based Stars haven't released an album in three years—since 2007's In Our Bedroom After the War—doesn't mean that lead vocalist Amy Millan hasn't been keeping herself busy. Incredibly busy. Last year she released her well-received sophomore solo effort Masters of the Burial and guested on frequent collaborators Broken Social Scene's latest album Forgiveness Rock Record. But now, after a separation with their longtime label Arts and Crafts, and a recording process that saw the band relinquish autonomy to a producer, Stars are back with the diverse and beautiful record The Five Ghosts. Here, Millan talks cymbals, summer jams, and MGMT.

How did the recording of this album differ from your past albums? The biggest thing we did was we brought back in Mr. Tom McFall who co-produced Set Yourself on Fire. This was the first time we just said, let’s not just co-produce, let’s let Tom do the album. We just kind of gave up some of that control and just trusted in him to bring the music to another level. It was pretty incredible because when we sat down and said that to him, it changed. He became the sixth member of the band. Our band is really a democracy, but it became more of a totalitarian situation.

Will this album sound different from the other ones? We're going back to albums like Heart and Nightsongs. We bought different synth basses that Evan played rather than playing the regular 4-string bass. And Chris invested in a lot of new keyboards. Patty McGee invested in a lot of program beats. At one point I really thought that there was not going to be a single cymbal on the album. We added them at the very end but I thought it was going to be the first, and I was happy for my ears. Cymbals are one of those things that can make you deaf.

How did you agree on "Fixed" as the first single? It's one of those immediate songs that you hear and you can fall into it and it sounds like Stars. But what does “single” even mean nowadays? It's really just throwing bait into a big sea to try and bring people back if you've been gone for a long time. It's to lure fans back into your fold and remind them that you're there before the album comes out, so it creates a little bit of conversation about what the album is going to be like.

What are some perfect settings to listen to this album in? I think there are some incredible workout songs you can put on your iPod if you’re doing some heavy training. "Waste of Daylight" would be perfect for cross country training. I think there are some funeral songs. I don't think there are any wedding songs on this album. Some settle you down to sleep and some get you ready for the big night. And there’s some summer jams. This is our first record we've ever put out in the summer so I'm excited for the summer jams.

Would it be a tragedy if the album gets leaked before its release date? It's never tragic. The fact that people want to hear it is only a good thing, but you want to have a little bit of mystery, right? The fact is that the kids want to hear it and they are going to try their best to find it out there in the digital world, and I think that's only a compliment. It's kind of like a cat and mouse game. So it's an interesting world, but it's never tragic. What’s tragic is when people just don't give a shit.

MGMT got a lot of shit for not playing their hit Kids at Coachella. Do you think bands owe it to their fans to play their hits? I think it’s very brave of them not to play it. I think you definitely have some responsibility to your audience, but I think that if you’re going to play the song like you’re a robot, you shouldn’t play it. I saw Prince at Coachella and for the first half hour of the show he didn’t even sing—he played guitar behind a post. His guitar playing is so fantastic that I didn’t care if he ever played “Let’s Go Crazy” because I was so astounded by his skill as a guitar player that it shut me up. And that’s part of the problem with being in the world of the single. Maybe MGMT was like, “Why don’t you listen to a couple of songs we have. Is that the only reason you’re coming to see our show to see that one song?” Maybe they don’t want fans like that. Maybe they want fans that can pick from a whole range of what they do.

Why did you leave your longtime label Arts and Crafts? It wasn’t really choosing to leave the label. One of the things we are very good at is taking care of our business. What we did with our money rather than spend it on bottles of Cristal, is we invested it in making the next album. We paid for The Five Ghosts entirely ourselves. And so we felt like as a result of that we should be able to put it out ourselves. My goal for this label is that it will house all of our music once we gain the rights back. It will be a place where fans will always be able to find rarities and they will be able to find new and upcoming remixes. And in ten years if there is a flood and someone loses their album they can write us at Soft Revolution records and they will find every album by us. I read something about this kid who bought a 4-song EP we put out three years ago for $70 on eBay on this thing. I don’t want this kid to have to spend $70, I want him to be able to come to our website and we can reissue it and get it for him for $15 dollars.

What show are you most looking forward to this summer? I love playing Lollapalooza. I think they’re just incredible to their artists and they really know how to treat the band.

How so? The backstage is always really well-organized and there’s a plethora of drinks you can have and you get your own cabin and there’s an artists village. It’s really obvious that [Lollapalooza founder Perry Farrell] is a musician who has played all over the world and knows when it’s great and when its not. There are certain festivals in England that are not fun to play because there is no food and you’re covered in mud. You can’t even take money out of the banks because your card is from Canada and you can’t find a drink anywhere. Lollapalooza is the complete opposite of that and you actually get to meet a lot of the bands that are playing.

You’re boycotting Arizona because of their controversial immigration law. Do you think it’s fair to deprive fans from seeing you live over something they have no control of? It’s interesting because we joined the boycott, we didn’t start the boycott. We joined an already existing boycott that was called for by politicians in Arizona. There was a sort of backlash about, "Who cares about stupid Stars, nobody has ever heard of them anyway." Although we are a small band that no one maybe cares about, it still got a lot of attention. More than our fans being angry with us there was an incredible amount of people that were supporting us, particularly Latinos living in Arizona who hadn’t ever heard of us before but were thanking us for having their backs. It’s pretty incredible and any form of protest is important. We chose to backup the boycott, to not support the economy there. That’s what happens when you stand up for what you believe in. Some people agree with you and some people don’t and some people end up not wanting to see us again. You can’t just choose what you believe in when it’s convenient. And that’s what we will stand behind until the bill is passed down.