Forrest Day has mastered the art of playing live and consistently draws sell-out crowds when they play in Monterey County. Their debut LP that they will celebrate at Planet Gemini this weekend undeniably captures that essence of their live shows, but the recording process – which began more than a year ago at Hyde Street Studios in San Francisco’s shady Tenderloin District – was a tedious process that rivaled constructing a matchstick model of the Queen Mary.

“The music demanded a lot,” says drummer Jasper Skydecker. “Once [bandleader and singer] Forrest got behind that console, it just kept demanding more and more attention and more people got involved sacrificing a lot of time and energy and money.”

But the wait is over: The popular seven-piece, funk-hip-hop-rock outfit’s long awaited self-titled (for now) album is finished. As of now, only 1,000 limited edition copies are available and will be on sale at Friday’s show. After those 1,000 CDs are gone, fans will have to wait until it’s officially released sometime in the fall.

The 13 tracks are thoughtfully textured with Eastern flair, Maharishi-like chants from mountaintops, and those tightly wound jams with spitfire rhymes we’ve come to love and expect.

“It was the most intense studio situation I’ve ever been involved in,” Skydecker says. “Any flaws you might have are revealed and have to be recorded over and over until it’s right; it was an educating experience and the product we got is amazing.”

Every song is built around a unique subject matter drawn from inspiration that comes from everywhere, even night terrors from a grown man.

Frontman and album producer Forrest Day says the opener “Sleepwalk,” is completely “nonfiction.”

“I’m pretty active when I’m sleeping,” Day says. “I always have brutal nightmares and wake up in strange places.”

He sings: “It scares the hell out of anyone around, the sounds are near/ My sister locked her door one time until the coast was clear.” The music drifts in and out with a melodic rhythm that infers sleep.

On “Hoarders,” probably the band’s most heartfelt tune to date, Day channels his sensitivity in a voice reminiscent of Coldplay’s Chris Martin; it’s progressive with a lot of movement and is almost like two songs in one, shifting back and forth with an effortlessness similar to the soft-to-loud jumps of the Pixies and Nirvana.

The song, already performed live several times before it was recorded, underwent a complete makeover before it became the complex beauty it is on the album.

“One day I was listening to the recording of the instrumental while driving around and I stopped by the Berkeley Cannabis Club and got real high,” Day explains. “I got back into the truck, put the CD back on and started singing the intro over it with a completely different melody.”

That creative process is well-fueled by passion and persistence: Over the first 14 days of recording, Day barely slept a wink; his mind ran wild like a startled horse.

“There was a lot of pressure,” Day says. “I was sitting up in the producer chair and knew that I had to f*****g deliver.”

Adds Skydecker, “When [the album] was finally finished it was a pretty big deal for us because for a minute, it felt like it was never going to happen.”

FORREST DAY AND OSTRICH HEAD play 10pm Friday, July 16, at Planet Gemini, 2110 N. Fremont St., Monterey. $10. 373-1449.