As the guys dug into their meals and sipped on pineapple agua frescas from the Two Tablespoons pop-up stand, we chatted about how Echoes was unlike their other work — not only because of who collaborated on this effort, but also because this really was a personal one for Gus.

"Everything that I wrote, from a lyrical perspective and all of that, was all that I could talk about. And that was the only thing on my mind," he explained. "I think if I tried to write about anything else, it would be insincere. And we definitely as a band, we’ve been very lucky with our careers so far. We’ve been really productive and excited. And we’ve come to a place, and I as a person, found myself in a place, in 2015 where it was time for a change."

Delving into the end of a six-year relationship, followed by Ben's departure, Gus saw the album as an opportunity to really let his and the other band members' creativity soar.

"To be honest with you, it just felt appropriate and a way for me to address things and put them to bed and look forward," he explained. "So for me, it’s a record for I was at that point in time, where we were in that point in time. We had to do what we had to do to move forward. So we had to be frank with ourselves and talk and think about everything in order to move on. The album is about not living the past anymore and putting those things to bed and putting our best foot forward and looking ahead to a brighter future."

Since the band used to live in one house in London, Gus admitted that "it streamlined the process a little bit. We wrote most of the album in [Fraser Taylor's] bedroom."

And starting Echoes as a foursome, Young Guns got back to their roots and found a new energy for their music. "I think it was really good for us as a group of four," Gus admitted. "We reconnected a little bit and listened to each other and the dynamics in the group had to change because there was one person less. And we had to reconnect in a positive way, and that came out in the writing. There was a great emphasis on Simon’s bass playing, which came to the forefront more. Things like that were really good for us as a new chapter."