It has been almost four years since The Flaming Lips graced us with an album proper and, though they've hardly been away (six hour songs, spats with Erykah Badu and 'grenades' in airports have understandably kept them in the spotlight) it would be nice to hear a full-length from them once again.

So it is joyous news this morning that Wayne Coyne and his merry band of sonic explorers are bringing out a new nine-track album in the spring.

The Terror, the follow-up to 2009's Embryonic, will be released on April 1 through Bella Union. Here's hoping it's no crumby hoax.

Produced by Dave Fridmann and the band themselves, Coyne has called it a "bleak, disturbing record".

The cover is above.