Mike Shinoda has sent out a small update on how the next Linkin Park album is shaping up. The note echoes what Mike told us on the latest LPA Podcast, in that the band are working on putting lyrics down first instead of working words in to music as they have in the past. Mike then goes on to say they are bouncing ideas off "new friends" in the studio, which will be revealed at a later date. The album has not been set a release date yet but seems to be coming along great as Mike finishes up the update by describing the new stuff as "really powerful" with "stories" and "emotional content". Read the full note below. [thumb]http://www.lpassociation.com/upload/images/020916-170432_lpstudio.jpg[/thumb]Hey everyone, We’re hard at work making some new music for you. The six of us have been more than enthusiastic about how this album is shaping up, and I’m happy to share this update! As usual during an early stage, we don’t know a ton about where the songs will end up. They change shapes over and over during the writing process, and we usually write dozens of songs, which push each other in and out of contention for a spot on the final album. One thing that’s making this album unique (so far) is the process. When we started out as a band, we often started our songs focusing almost entirely on the musical “track," with no vocals until the end of the process. The vocals were usually forced into the existing chords and structure of the song, which often times meant that some ideas we loved never "made it," because good words or good melodies never showed up, even though we liked the music. Over time, we’ve started incorporating vocals earlier and earlier in the process, usually in the form of skat “la la la” vocals and gibberish words. Many of those demos have been shared as a part of our LPU albums. But this time, we decided to go even further, and write more “traditionally." We’re starting with the most fundamental parts of the songs—the words and vocal melodies—and completely fleshing out those ideas before we begin working out the music. That means right now, we’re only focusing on the foundations upon which the songs are built. Some songs are just one piano, keyboard, or guitar, and a vocal. The concept and words of the song are front and center. We’ve even invited some new friends into the studio to bounce ideas off (more to come on that later). So far, the new approach is paying off. The new stuff is really powerful, and the stories and emotional content is really shining through. We’re going to continue on this path until we feel like we’ve got more than enough material to begin the “sound” phase. I’ve been posting some live video streams of studio days up on the Facebook page, so keep an eye out for those updates. And we’ll try to write some more updates as things go. This album is going to be insane, and we’re looking forward to taking you on the journey as we make it. Best, Mike LP Source: Linkin Park
I'm really excited as this will rejuvenate the band for more ideas to put into songs, while the past couple albums have been bland on the lyrics. This will definitely be a monumental album in the bands history
I am particularly excited by this approach. Maybe this new focus on lyrical writing before music will improve overall content? Majority of Linkin Park songs tend to come of as "shallow" or weak for many people (something you can hardly argue), so this might be good for a change. I hope for great messages, no matter the theme: political, social, poetical, fiction, whatever. Something tangible for us to enjoy intellectually wrapped in awesome musical crafting. My wishes for LP7.
It's way harder (IMO) to construct the music after you've had the songs, which is probably why they started the career doing it the other way around. With that said, if the guys managed to pull it off, this album is gonna be fire.
I don't think the process is *that* exclusive, I mean, they are not putting music completely aside while trying to convey the lyrics. They play a bit with vocal melodies and use simple instrumentation underneath, such like some guitar and piano like Mike says.
I'm cautiously optimistic. Also, the fact the the album will come out in the fall/winter makes me super super pumped. Every LP album I've been around for has come out during the summer so the fact that it'll be cold when the album comes out makes me happy for some reason.
What I'm trying to say is, even when you have all the songs figured out, even when you have a nice acoustic piano/guitar track backing the words and melodies, to turn those into a full-size Linkin Park production could turn out to be way harder than it was earlier on in their career.
I really hope they don't try to Linkin Park-ify these songs in a way that sounds some what expected from them in order to cater to fans, so that they still sound like Linkin Park. I would like for them to completely let loose and do whatever comes natural, and not sacrifice anything.
You very well could be right. 2017 DELAY CONFIRMED On another note, I'm starting to see a pattern. My guess is that no matter what the album sounds like - which right now seems to be going the way of scaled-down instrumentals dominated by the vocals (for some reason I have a feeling it'll be similar to Of Monsters & Men lol) - the main talking/selling point that Mike and the rest of the band will primarily mention in interviews will be "Look guys, we actually wrote good lyrics this time!" Because we all know there HAS to be a theme.
I'm hopeful that this actually produces some beautiful and innovative material. I'm always skeptical when the band gets excited now, as I've been a bit disappointed by the band's recent efforts. We'll see what happens by the end of this year.