Rhys Fulber, the Canadian-born artist behind Conjure One, was snatching his luggage from the airport and hopping in a cab when I spoke with him, fresh off a flight from Los Angeles. It's been a busy week for Fulber, running off three hours of sleep from a late show in California the night before, performing songs from his new album, Exiliarch. He explained to me, "It's just a grind, ya know?"

It's been five years in the making for the Conjure One album, Exiliarch, which features an ambient electronic list of songs. Producer, Fulber, describes Exilarch's sound as slightly darker and edgier than Conjure One's past tracks. This is the first album that Fulber has compiled almost completely on his own, from mixing to recording.

"I think on the previous Conjure One album I was kind of overthinking things a bit ... and feeling pressure to make it more commercial or something like that, but I don't do that anymore," said Fulber. "I think if people are interested in an artist, they want to hear that artist. They don't want to hear that artist try to make a pop album."

Before venturing out on his own project, Fulber was a member of Delerium and Front Line Assembly, selling a quarter of a million albums in the U.S., and over a million worldwide. He has also spent a fair share of his career producing and remixing for a variety of other artists including Sarah Brightman, Fear Factory, Megadeth and Josh Groban. He says working with David Foster for Groban's debut album was especially intimidating, but it was where he learned to trust his instincts as a producer.

"I was kind of overthinking it, like what would a guy like David Foster think? How am I going to make this guy happy? The only way to approach these things is to do what I do ... and do what I think sounds good," he laughed. "It's a pretty nice job, isn't it?"

The album contains 10 new songs, of which Fulber said I Dream in Colour is his favourite, a tune that combines a soft instrumental base with cool electronic beats and vocals.

"I've worked on that song probably more than any of the others, and I still haven't gotten sick of it. I can't even tell you how many times I've gone through it, but still enjoy it."

Fulber has recently been on the road with Recoil (project of Alan Wilder, of Depeche Mode) and his tour is continuing to include shows in Baltimore, Toronto and Hamilton. Although it's a lot of work to produce and tour a new album, Fulber said that it is fulfilling as "it's the adrenaline of the travelling and playing the music that keeps you going."

Conjure One's latest album, Exiliarch, will be in released November 9, and is already available to hear on MySpace at www.myspace.com/conjureone.