The group came back together in late 1988, releasing 3, a return to the band's earlier, stripped-down sound.

The album is considered groundbreaking in being the first of its kind to combine the hard, stripped-down sound of punk rock with American roots music.

The Fly reported a change in sound in the album, describing it as a "return to the stripped-down sound of the band's debut".

They recorded with the mentality of a "band in a room playing together", an approach that led to the album's more stripped-down sound.

It introduces a more organic, stripped-down sound, quite different from his earlier albums that had heavily taken advantage of electronic equipment.

As with the band's eponymous debut, Circle of Snakes features a somewhat stripped-down sound.

The new incarnation of the band represented a more stripped-down, raw sound.

Win Butler has said that in conceiving the album he hoped for a more stripped-down sound but the songs demanded further instrumentation.

It had a stripped-down sound of voice and guitar.

He subsequently approached Street, and argued for a more stripped-down sound on the band's next record.