You’ll recall that back in September speculation surfaced that shoegaze godheads My Bloody Valentine were set to return wth a new album in 2018. Now, in a new interview, bandleader Kevin Shields has confirmed that this is indeed the case.

Expectations for a new album – a mere four years since the release of m.b.v., their first new album since 1991’s classic, Loveless – have been running high since the band’s biographical information on the website for Sigur Ros' Norður og Niður Festival in Iceland claimed that one was in the pipeline.

It said that Shields is "currently finishing an all analog vinyl version of Loveless and Isn't Anything and is also working on material for a new My Bloody Valentine album to be released in 2018."

Speaking to Pitchfork, Kevin Shields has stated that fans can expect a new album in 2018. When asked if the mooted album was coming out next year, Shields replied: “One hundred percent.”

He continued: “Basically, the record started off as an EP, and I realized it has to be, like, a mini-album, because it’s going to be at least 40 minutes long. So it’s going to be an album, but I don’t really know how many tracks it’s going to be. It’ll probably be seven or eight, by the looks of it.”

Shields explained that work had started on the new album in 2016 but its progress had been delayed thanks to the re-mastering of Loveless.

“The last time we worked on it was a month or two months ago,” he said. “I’m still hovering over this [re-mastering] project until it’s basically in manufacturing, then it’s back into the [new] album.”

And if that wasn’t enough good news, Shields added that My Bloody Valentine would be returning to live action next summer: “We’re going to play live again, so that’s always a really good way to guarantee that we’ll get the record done.”

Get those earplugs ready!