The Jacksonville, Fla.-born pop-punk outfit Yellowcard is hoping to regain its commercial footing with its new disc, "Paper Walls," due this week on Capitol.

The band's debut, 2003's "Ocean Avenue," sold 2.5 million copies in the United States, according to Nielsen SoundScan; spawned a monster single in the title track; and scored an MTV Video Music Award.

But the follow-up, 2006's "Lights and Sounds," didn't find that same audience. Though the album went gold, earned some critical love and featured a cameo by Dixie Chick Natalie Maines, according to singer Ryan Key, sales of 358,000 still threw the band for a bit of a loop. "We didn't really make it to the third single on the record, as you hope to get to, but the times they are a-changin'," Key says.

So it's fair to say "Paper Walls" is something of a return to form. "A lot of people that have heard it say it gets back to that 'Ocean Avenue' kind of thing, but that's a little frustrating too," Key says. "When you put all five of us in a room, this is the band you get. This is the sound that comes out. It's not like we collectively decided to rewrite a record. But this does seem a little more bright and optimistic than 'Lights and Sounds' did."