FINALLY, it's out. Home-grown indie rock quintet The Great Spy Experiment - touted as the next big thing - have released their debut album, Flower Show Riots, this week.
The band formed just over two years ago, and quickly caused quite a stir in the music scene here.
But the sense of relief that the 11-track album has at last hit the stores is due to the rollercoaster ride leading up to it.
During that time, the Singaporeans have had the highs of performing twice in the United States - quite an achievement for a local group - and the low of the album's producer, Wayne Seah aka Wayne Thunder, dying just four months ago.
They have also had the stress of self-funding the release.
It cost them a whopping $50,000, which included mastering at New York's Masterdisk studios, famed for its work with bands such as Nirvana, The White Stripes and The Mars Volta.
The album is distributed by Universal Music and the good news is that music critics are saying it is so dance-worthy, it could well give American dance-rockers The Killers or Scottish rock band Franz Ferdinand a run for their money.
Bassist Khairyl Hashim, 29, says: "We paid attention to every single detail with each song. When we started recording, we aimed to set the bar."
The band's other members are frontman Saiful Idris, 27, who works as a teacher; guitarist Tan Shung Sin, 30, a writer; keyboardist Magdelene Han, 30, a teacher; and drummer Fandy Razak, 27, a writer.
On how this could be their big break, Saiful says: "I think we're better known in the indie scene than in the mainstream. People usually only know us through our gigs and it's basically because our album was not out yet."
The Great Spy Experiment first made their mark when they emerged third runner-up in Power98FM's Power Jam band competition in late 2005, before going on to perform at the coveted South By Southwest (SXSW) Festival in March this year.
The annual music, film and interactive conference held in Austin, Texas, has hosted acts such as MuteMath, Iggy Pop & The Stooges and The Bloc Party.
Another home-grown rock band which performed there was Electrico.
A month later, The Great Spy Experiment also performed at the inaugural Singapore Day event held in New York.
Describing their first overseas experience, Fandy says: "It was an eye-opener. We were surprised to be received so well there. It was a morale boost for us too."
Saiful says: "One big thing we've got from our trips is more overseas supporters now. The response we got from the Americans was overwhelming. It just proves a point that Singapore music can make it anywhere."
On a sombre note, producer Wayne Thunder, 29 - drummer for popular home-grown rock band The Suns - died in his sleep just days after he did their last track at Snakeweed studios in Keong Saik Road.
