Had the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington not taken place, Jon Bunch and his bandmates in the LA quintet Sense Field would have been looking forward to celebrating the release of a long, long, long-awaited album on September 25. It’d taken nearly five years and as many false starts, a series of bouts with a record label, and a dogged determination that the group’s polished, emotionally driven rock was worth hanging on for.

In their own world, inside their tour van as it headed toward New Jersey for a show at Maxwell’s, the band must have found the events of September 11 uncanny. Sense Field’s last album before the corporate meltdown was called Building. A line from one of the songs on the new Tonight and Forever went 'Enemy planes coming from foreign skies . . . ' Bunch maintains a perspective on such coincidences between art and life. 'Somebody throws a big wrench in the idea of what you’re trying to think about and focus on. But there are other important things. I mean, I think the record’s important, but not nearly as important as what’s going on in the world.'

Tonight and Forever ended up holding to its September 25 release date, thanks in part to Nettwerk, the label that rescued Sense Field after Warner Bros. set the group adrift. Bunch defers to those more affected by the tragedy than he — after all, he’s the sensitive frontman for a band who were emo before emo was cool. Still, Sense Field have a right to lament the timing of the attacks, having weathered 10 years as a band and five years in record-label purgatory. Now, Bunch, guitarists Rodney Sellars and Chris Evenson, bassist John Stockberger, and drummer Rob Pfeiffer have to be mindful of their every word.

'There’s definitely the whole idea of continuing your life without completely collapsing . . . ' Oops. Bunch regroups: 'I guess that’s not a good word to use nowadays. It’s good to keep moving forward and to keep looking ahead.'

That means climbing back into the van and traversing the country again. For years, Sense Field were the object of a cruel joke. Warner Bros. kept sending advance copies of Tonight and Forever (by various titles) to journalists (this reporter reviewed a version for the July 1999 issue of a magazine). The album appeared for sale on eBay; the songs leaked across the Web on Napster. It was an indignity for a band who had worked since 1991 to establish their mix of SoCal punk, ’80s art punk, and tightly wound modern emocore. Not only does Tonight and Forever achieve this synthesis, it sets a standard for the groups who are now striving to pick up the musical themes that progressive emo bands like Shudder To Think, Sunny Day Real Estate, and — for those astute young musicians with Bunch’s band’s three Revelation albums in their collection — Sense Field introduced a decade ago.

Tonight kicks off with a buzzing rock number seasoned with staccato guitar riffs and well-defined verse/chorus transitions. Bunch’s vocals veer from a keening falsetto to choppy shouts. Then the band unleash a killer power ballad, 'Save Yourself,' which is also the disc’s first single. It was approved reluctantly by Bunch, who wonders how it’ll sound on the radio next to meatier fare from emo peers Saves the Day and Jimmy Eat World. The track opens with a lone acoustic guitar; it’s joined shortly by synth strings and an escalating, increasingly complex melody, and Bunch’s sensitive-guy lyrics pull all the right heartstrings. From there, the band dive into 'Here Right Here' (the source of the 'enemy planes' line), a track that shows off Sense Field’s budding pop sensibility in the form of an R.E.M.-like piano figure and some stellar vocal harmonies from Sellars. It’s an impressive a start, and the intensity never lets up, from the surging and rambunctious 'Beatles Song' to the more pensive 'Weight of the World' to the inspirational anthem 'What Never Dies.'

Even as others attempt to recover from and cope with the events of September 11, Sense Field have the added task of revving up a career that Warner Bros. stalled. But the five years it took for Tonight and Forever to surface did little to diminish Bunch’s positive outlook. 'I’m hoping this record will bring a lot of happiness. And spread as much joy as possible. I turn to music to get through things, and that’s what I want our album to do.'