Muse last released an album in 2015 with Clones, and it had been looking as though the band was trying out a new release strategy for music, issuing "Dig Down" as a standalone single last May and just issuing "Thought Contagion" this week. They had previously teased the potential for focusing on singles and EP releases instead of approaching full albums. But rest easy Muse fans, as a full disc is actually in the works.

Speaking with Matt Wilkinson on Beats 1, drummer Dominic Howard revealed, "We are working towards an album. We're still thinking about other songs and working on other tracks."

Singer Matt Bellamy added, "['Dig Down' and 'Thought Contagion'] will be on the album for sure. This is the second song that we’ve actually finished, but there are about three or five other tunes that we’re working on - maybe six or seven actually, I can’t remember anymore!"

He continued, "We like this idea of focusing on one song at a time because for the last two or three albums we’ve always been thinking about the whole. The concept of the album, the style of the album, all that stuff. So it’s nice to actually think about one track and doing the best production we can for that track and making it the best we can be, before moving on to the next track. So it’s hard to really say what the album’s going to be because we’re just focusing on this one track at a time thing." Bellamy went on to add that they might still release a couple more songs independently, but will include those songs along with all the other music on their next album.

As for the sound of the new album, Howard stated, "It's very different from the last album, that's for sure ... It's definitely more experimental. There's more weird synths and stuff." Bellamy also teased a track called "Algorithm" that has "blended a bit of romantic classical piano with like '80s synth, computer game music."

Bellamy also spoke a bit about their new song "Thought Contagion," revealing the idea came from a Richard Dawkins book that suggested that thoughts are contagious and spread like a virus.

He continued, “If you spend a few hours watching American news, well, that’s were the first part of the song came from really. It’s kinda like some strange bubble where they’re all living up Trump’s bum, basically … It gets inside your mind. I think that’s where the song came from really. You start walking round worrying about things that you wouldn’t normally think about and so the song came from that. How other people’s ideas can kinda take over your own if you’re not careful.”

"Thought Contagion" was produced by the band with Rich Costey, who had been in the studio with the group last fall. Muse are starting to get their 2018 plans in order, with a handful of U.S. and other festivals scheduled from the spring leading into the summer. See their tour plans here. They also just announced a one-off show Feb. 24 at Paris' La Cigale, with tickets going on sale at 10AM local time this Saturday (Feb. 17). For those not able to attend, the band does intend on broadcasting the show in real time via their Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Periscope accounts.

 

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