Justin Furstenfeld, the 37-year-old front man, vocalist and creative force behind Texas rockers Blue October, has turned a corner, both lyrically and in his personal life. His band's new album, Sway, released today, is a far cry from 2011's angst-ridden Any Man In America, which was written while Furstenfeld was going through both a divorce and a custody battle for his daughter.

While on tour in support of the band's previous album at the time, 2009's Approaching Normal, Furstenfeld had an interview with the Houston Press, which, to put it lightly, didn't go all that smoothly. The interview and background behind it became John Nova Lomax's controversial "Little Boy Blue" cover story, which appeared in June 2010 and outraged many among the Blue October faithful. A little more than three years later, though, the singer-songwriter sounds content to let the past be the past.

"I'm in a different place now," Furstenfeld says. "The last time I was interviewed by you guys, I was in the middle of losing my mind. It was a really dark time in my life, and I kind of lost my way for a while."