The Loudest Engine  The Loudest Engine is the third studio album of London-based Australian indie rock band Howling Bells. The album was released through Cooking Vinyl on 9 September 2011 to mostly positive reviews. It was produced by Mark Stoermer and recorded at Battle Born Studios, in Las Vegas from September to October 2010. Howling Bells began writing for "The Loudest Engine" more than two years preceding its release while they supported Coldplay on the Viva la Vida Tour. The band sought to capture more closely the essence of its debut album, "Howling Bells", and retract from its technically inclined predecessor, "Radio Wars". Vocalist and rhythm guitarist Juanita Stein was credited for writing most of the lyrical content on "The Loudest Engine". The band moved on from all five record labels it was signed to and established an exclusive partnership with Cooking Vinyl. Only one single, "Into the Sky" was released from the album and it was the first Howling Bells album issued as an LP record. The Australian release and the LP release contain an extra track named "Arrows", which is a demo that was recorded in Sydney. Preceding the release of the album, Howling Bells released a non-physical EP issued via PledgeMusic, titled "Invisible". "The Loudest Engine" appeared on both the UK Albums Chart and the Australian Albums Chart. Howling Bells characterized "The Loudest Engine" as a contemporary psychedelic endeavor which was reinforced by the atmosphere of their time spent in the Mojave Desert. To support the album Howling Bells performed a number of headline shows and opened for both Elbow and The Killers. Following this period of time, bass player Brendan Picchio left the band and was subsequently replaced by Gary Daines. Howling Bells wrote most of the material for "The Loudest Engine", while they were on the road supporting Coldplay in May and June 2009. The band returned to Australia later that year and rented a house in Valla Beach to use as a rehearsal space for their new material. Although the band expressed that the album was very much a communal songwriting process with input from drummer Glenn Moule, bass guitarist Brendan Picchio, and guitarist Joel Stein, Joel's sister Juanita Stein was recognised for writing most of the song lyrics on the album. "The Loudest Engine" (the title track) was written about the tour bus that the band used while they toured Europe with Mercury Rev in 2008. Juanita referred to "The Loudest Engine" as a modern psychedelic record, and one that was more folk and rock than their previous two releases, but which felt like a continuation of their first record, "Howling Bells".