Travis Open Up About New Album

British rock band Travis have released new information on their fifth studio album, Open, which is coming out later this year.

"It's been three years since our last release," the band wrote on their MySpace page last week in reference to 2004's Singles collection, which followed 2003's 12 Memories studio effort.

"Much has occurred. Many songs have been written. Many recordings have been made. Many of you have wondered, after the greatest hits, 'Is this it? Are they finished?' Many of you gave up and moved onto newer, mellower, softer rock — mmmm — you tried to convince yourself it tasted the same but deep down you knew... You knew it wasn't the good stuff."

Travis spent the early part of 2006 working on the album with producer Nigel Godrich (Radiohead) at London's Rak Studio. Although no song titles have been confirmed, various reports suggest that the first single will be "The Big Chair."

The band have kept fans informed on the album's progress with a string of diary entries from bassist Dougie Payne, who described the tracks in rather simple ways, including the "Beatle-y one," "Sad one" and "Riffy one," among others. Apparently 25 to 30 songs were recorded.

"There are so many new songs, it was hard to pick the ones that would make the album," the band wrote. "There will be a glut of too good to be b-sides b-sides."

Payne also hinted in the studio diaries that an album compiled entirely of B-sides is a possibility in the future.