The Life Pursuit

The band recorded their seventh album in California in 2005 with the producer Tony Hoffer, at The Sound Factory in Los Angeles. It was originally intended as a double album. Rough Trade released it in Europe on 6 February 2006, and Matador released it in North America the next day.

It gave the band their best chart performance yet, reaching 8 in the UK and 65 on the Billboard 200, with 20,485 units sold in its first US week. It was certified Silver in the UK and reached 3 on the US independent albums chart. Three singles followed: Funny Little Frog, which reached the UK top 20 in January 2006, The Blues Are Still Blue, which reached the top 40 in April, and White Collar Boy, which reached the top 50 in June. We Are the Sleepyheads was used in MTV2 advertisements and To Be Myself Completely appeared in the video game MLB 2K6. Pitchfork named the album the 86th greatest of the 2000s in 2009. It has sold 112,000 units in the United States.