Muse talk about the new album

New direction, new sound? Muse's Matt Bellamy has explained how the band have grown up over the past two years. Muse's Matt Bellamy has explained how the band have grown up over the past two years. Speaking in Music Week, Bellamy says that spending time on the road with the likes of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and the Foo Fighters has taught the band a lot about developing their sound: "When we did the first album we'd only done a few gigs in London, no major tours. We've learned so much about how we want to be from touring with other bands because of the way they are on stage." Talking about the songs they've already recorded for the eagerly-anticipated follow up to 1999's Showbiz album, Matt says that only two or three are acoustic-based and explains that, "if we recorded them in the way other bands do I'd be worried that it would sound the same as them. We've used wind chimes to set up entire backdrops... bits of bones, Llama claws and bubble wrap. It sounds much more atmospheric." So far, tracks in the can include Bliss, Hypermusic, Origin of Symmetry, Love Bleach, Shrinking Universe and Razor Song plus, of course, their forthcoming single, Plug In Baby, which hits the shops on March 5th through Mushroom.