After finally making the addition of new drummer Mike Byrne official, the Smashing Pumpkins have now revealed details of their next album. 'Teargarden by Kaleidyscope' will be based on tarot concept of 'The Fool's Journey', approached by 'breaking down the journey our life here into four phases as made by these different characters; the Child, the Fool, the Skeptic, and the Mystic.' Hmmm...
In a post on the Smashing Pumpkins official website, Billy Corgan revealed that, rather than releasing a conventional album, they will release a series of 44 download tracks.
Corgan emphasised that the tracks would be free:
'There will be no strings attached. Free will mean free, which means you won't have to sign up for anything, give an email address, or jump through a hoop. You will be able to go and take the song or songs as you wish, as many times as you wish... The commitment that is most important is the one I'm making to you: that the music of 'Teargarden by Kaleidyscope' will be available for free to everyone. All 44 songs: free for ALL.'
Still, while the individual tracks will be made available for free, there will also be a series of eleven limited edition EPs which will each contain four tracks, described by Corgan as 'mini box sets, rather than your normal CD single. Following the release of all 44 tracks, a deluxe box set will be released as its own entity, separate and different to the EPs.
Corgan has 53 songs already written for the project, and says the music 'harkens back to the original psychedelic roots of The Smashing Pumpkins: atmospheric, melodic, heavy, and pretty. Let's hope so.