"Don't Be Afraid," due out Tuesday on the independent Cleopatra Records, is a far cry from the band's earlier sound. "The new album is much more goth/industrial than it is '80s synth-pop. It's a lot more 'out there.'" Harland explains. "And there's none of our old attempts to be funky or anything approaching R&B. That was always something I wasn't able to supply."

Over the years, Information Society's members have scattered to the winds. First Amanda Kramer, then Jim Cassidy and finally Paul Robb, with whom Harland made 1992's "Peace & Love, Inc." Harland's vision culminates in nine new tracks, some of them reaching epic lengths, which express varying degrees of loss, frustration and alienation.

The album, co-produced with Steve Seibold, includes "Seek300," a high-speed sample-fest; the sweeping instrumental "Ozar Midrashim;" a steely cover of Gary Numan's "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and the caustic "On the Outside," which Harland says he wouldn't have written "if I hadn't known so many girls who had scars on their arms."

"Don't Be Afraid" will also include a second, all-data CD-ROM which will include the full video for "Peace & Love, Inc." as well as Information Society-related files contributed by fans.

Harland hopes that longtime fans will be able to follow Information Society's changes. "I know that the people who are buying [our] records totally understand. My stuff is not as nearly 'out there' as a lot of stuff that other people are buying."

-- Beth Winegarner

This article was originally published in the San Francisco Chronicle.