Having Said That, Let Me Say This is the third record from the talented outfit, who blend funk, pop, soul and jazz into intelligent yet danceable grooves.

"It's something to say when you've got nothing to say," bandleader and keyboardist Richard Tankard said.

"In an election year, I dare say we'll hear it said a lot."

Like the forthcoming election campaign, the making of Having Said That, Let Me Say This was a drawn-out affair.

It began two-and-a-half years ago, with a single day in Smith Studios at Naringal "amid the cows and the sawmill", Tankard said.

Tankard, bassist Ruben Shannon, drummer and studio owner Brenton Smith, saxophonist Matt Hewson and trumpeter Matt Trenery laid down six tracks that day, with the idea that if the demos were good enough they might some day end up on an album.

More than a year later, Tankard returned to the studio to add some vocals and clean-up some tracks, but the album was still a long way off completion.

"Then when we got booked for the Folkie gigs, that planted the seed to finish this," he said.

A burst of songwriting over a couple of months led to more recording in January this year, with the album mixed, mastered and off to the printers by the end of February.

"I think it's the best Tank Dilemma record," Tankard said.

"The album is a bit more up (but it's also) a little tougher. It's ballsier.

"(And) not withstanding sleep deprivation and crammed schedule, it was easier to make. It was more of a joy to make.

"It's a great recording environment at Naringal.

"It's low stress recording."

Despite calling it a more even album, Having Said That... still contains some of that Tank Dilemma trademark eclecticism an ability to gracefully skip from style to style that stems from Tankard's wide-ranging influences and his band's jazz-trained skilfulness.

"It's a nightmare when your writing a festival application," he laughed.

"I think I put down something like 'soul-funk-based keyboard-driven tunes with nods to pop, jazz and blues'.

"It's a very soul heavy album, a riffy album."

The "riffy" quality comes from what may seem to be an expected influence.

"I've had a couple of people mention that some of my piano riffs are very guitar-like in nature, and that's a Midnight Oils influence, particularly guitarist Jim Moginie," he said, adding that Cold Chisel's Don Walker, Stevie Wonder, early Jamiroquai, Ron Sexsmith and Joe Jackson were also influences on the record.

One major difference Having Said That... has over its predecessors Innersoul and Alright Already is the guitar-playing of Shannon Bourne, who pops up occasionally as a sixth member of the band who Tankard had worked with in Broderick Smith's band and Checkerboard.

"He's on half the album," Tankard said.

"There are some pretty gritty riffs on the album, but they were written prior to the guitar coming in.

"(Bourne) came in during the last week of recording. He didn't want to hear the tunes beforehand he loves being thrown into the deep end.

"He's a musical force of nature."

Bourne will be with the band when they play live at the Folkie, helping to bring to life new cuts such as live favourite Like To Like, potential single Gravitate, the 7/4-time New Orleans blues Neighbours Fight, the pacy swing of Handshake Made Of Gold, and the album's epic hypnotic closer The Universe Said No.

mneal@fairfaxmedia.com.au