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The first thing Slobot vocalist and self-professed bird impersonator Sherie Duhon wants me to know about new album Fainting in Coils is concert-tested fan favorite “Dave Fell in the Chocolate Box” is not about 2CV guitarist Dave Quinlan.

Who asks you about that?

“Dave asks us about that!” says Slobot guitarist and vocalist Kevin Hurstell. Baton Rouge’s most famously bass-less rock trio has reformed after a five-year hiatus and is at it again, pinning Duhon’s plinky stabs at cheap Casio keyboards to Hurstell’s deep undertow of fuzzed-out early ’90s grunge guitar. And, sorry fellas, they’re still not interviewing bass players. That’s just one more mouth to feed.

So, what if Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers hears Fainting in Coils and asks to join the band?

“Yeah, sorry, Flea,” Duhon says. “Get in line!”

Drummer-in-absentia Andrew Black is the third member of Slobot. A physician in San Francisco, Black’s move for med school prompted the band’s hiatus in 2000 shortly after opening slots for Ben Lee and Poster Children and the recording of debut album, Slow Robot Ahead. Dr. Black returned to add drums, write and sing on several tracks on the new disc.

Hurstell’s dominant feeling about Fainting in Coils is relief. Years of experience and songwriting are now documented on CD with a band he wasn’t sure was even together anymore.

“We never let the dream die,” Duhon says. “I would always say ‘I’m Sherie Slobot—Slobot, Slobot, Slobot—we’re still together.’ All the while not really knowing if Andrew was going to come back and we’d be able to put these songs out.”

The commute paid off. The Black-penned “Captain of the Patrol Team Raises the Flag” begins with the emerging mantra “It Escalates Into a War,” showcasing a more direct consciousness for the band that occasionally veers too far into cutesy surrealism. And halfway through “Darkness Has a New Dimension,” rickety jangle-pop and ballpark organ drops off, leaving only harmonies and perky vocal riffs suspended over a silent chasm. It’s a remarkably brave moment on the record, and it’s unlike anything the band has done before. “I was worried because it feels naked,” Hurstell admits. “I like being naked,” Duhon says with a so-what look and a contagious laugh.

She now lives in Lafayette, which makes Slobot a band in three cities. But convening at Fred Weaver’s Apocalypse The Apocalypse studio in Baton Rouge to write and record new material proved surprisingly easy.

“I’m nitpicky and always find things to be unhappy with in our songs, but this one came out exactly how we wanted it to sound,” Hurstell says. Duhon smiles, adding “Atypically, it went well.”

In concert, Glenn Fields of The Red Stick Ramblers and Sam Anselmo of Reception Is Suspected have filled in for Black behind the kit. Hurstell and Duhon miss playing Black’s songs but are thrilled about lining up summer shows in support of the new album.

“It’s funny,” Duhon muses. “We practice more now than when we all lived on the same block.”

Fainting in Coils is available at the Compact Disc Store on Jefferson Highway and online at slobot.net.