Mars Volta's Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodríguez-López

Load the bong: The Mars Volta are back with a new album -- and according to singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala, the former prog-rockers are exploring their soft side.

"It's more mellow. It's a little more of what we consider our 'acoustic' side," Bixler-Zavala told Australian radio station Triple J of the new record, called Octahedron, which will be released June 23 via Warner Bros. Its first single will be "Since We've Been Wrong."

"We know how people can be so linear in their way of thinking, so when they hear [the new album], they're going to say, 'This is not an acoustic album! There's electricity throughout it!' But it's our version," the singer said. "That's what our band does -- celebrate mutations. It's our version of what we consider an acoustic album."

The Mars Volta -- Bixler-Zavala and guitar virtuoso Omar Rodríguez-López, who formed the band in 2001 after the demise of Texas rockers At the Dive-In -- tapped a handful of previous collaborators for the new album: Guitarist John Frusciante (Red Hot Chili Peppers), multi-instrumentalist Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez, drummer Thomas Pridgen, keyboardist Isaiah "Ikey" Owens, and bassist Juan Alderete de la Peña.

Octahedron tracklist:
1. "Since We've Been Wrong"
2. "Teflon"
3. "Halo of Nembutals"
4. "With Twilight as My Guide"
5. "Cotopaxi"
6. "Desperate Graves"
7. "Copernicus"
8. "Luciforms"