After splitting with Epic, which released its 2004 debut, “Future Perfect,” California rock outfit Autolux is fielding offers for a new deal while it finishes its next album.
Drummer Carla Azar tells Billboard.com the group is about halfway finished with the as-yet-untitled project, a portion of which was recorded with John Goodmanson (Sleater-Kinney, Blonde Redhead). The hope is to have the record out by summer, pending resolution of Autolux’s new label status.
“We have a lot of people wanting to put it out, but we want to make the right decision,” Azar says, adding that Autolux bought back the rights to “Future Perfect” from Epic. “Our manager (Ian Montone) handles bands like the White Stripes and he always finds a way for the artist to have more control than in a traditional record deal.”
As for the new music, Azar says it’s “a real progression” from the last album’s sludgy, psychedelic rock, especially because the band’s chops were at an all-time high after touring for a year-and-a-half. “It’s pretty out there,” she says of songs like “Science of Imaginary Solutions” and “Audience No. 2.” “It’s like Dylan Thomas and Stephen Hawking mixed together.”
Azar cautions that some of the songs may change drastically during mixing, which is when the band will “take it into outer space and start tripping out on it. We’re always trying to hear things we’ve never heard before. That’s always a struggle with us.”
For now, the only shows on Autolux’s schedule are Jan. 31 in San Francisco and Feb. 1 in Los Angeles, as well as a May appearance at the Primavera Sound Festival in Spain. “We’re probably going to be touring for a year-and-a-half after the record is out,” Azar predicts.
During downtime from finishing the record, Azar will occupy the drum stool for a new Polly Jean Harvey/John Parish record, which should be out sometime this year. The album is the follow-up to the pair’s 1996 effort “Dance Hall at Louse Point.”
