Indie rock act Blonde Redhead has entered the last phase of work on the follow-up to 2004's "Misery Is a Butterfly," Billboard.com has learned. The as-yet-untitled effort is due early next year via 4AD.

"Right now we're doing the vocals, and then we're going to start mixing. It's crunch time. It's at a point where I can almost taste it in my mouth, but I know something could still terribly go wrong!," vocalist/guitarist Kazu Makino tells Billboard.com. "We still could have a long title. I'm hoping to just find a word that puts it all together, but it's hard to find that."

Basic tracks were laid down at the Magic Shop in New York, but this time around, the band has decided to rely less on "weird instruments" and instead use layering techniques. "It sounds simple, but its not that simple," Makino says. "There are lots of guitars. We use samples and drums and layer a lot of vocals. Normally I do just one vocal, but some are harmonizing, some are double vocals -- almost identical -- and it sounds clearer," Makino explains.

As far as the songs are concerned, Makino says the band made a concerted effort to get its point across in a more concise manner.

"We started to listen to other people's music and sometimes they get to the chorus after 15 seconds. I thought we should be able to do that," she offers. "I hope it sounds less timid than our other albums. I think it's more immediate; it still sounds like us but we tried to get to the point as soon as possible. In the past, we've taken a long time to tell the story, but I think that comes from a little bit of our insecurities. How fast we can convey ideas is the game we started to play."

Earlier this month, Blonde Redhead had to cancel three gigs in Israel due to fighting in the region. The band is considering playing the L.A. Weekly-sponsored Detour Festival on Oct. 7, but is waiting to see how much more work needs to be done on the album before committing.