Progressive metal artist Devin Townsend has announced new details for a new “abstract and stream of consciousness” album titled Lightwork. Due to how prolific the musician is, it is unknown if this is the intended new album he announced earlier this year. The performer announced this new project in a series of social media posts, where he said it is “significantly far away from anything, but it’s determinedly taking shape.”

“I think I’m writing an album, unexpectedly…called ‘Lightwork’ that is abstract and stream of conscious,” Townsend explained on Twitter. “Still significantly far away from anything, but it’s determinedly taking shape. It’s been odd though, as every record is a reflection of the time it was conceived.”

…and this is clearly a weird time. It’s strange, abstract, meandering, and weird. If I try to curb it and write something more disciplined, it would be a dumb rehash of stuff I’m clearly bored of. So I follow this where it wants to go…

— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) August 4, 2020

In follow-up tweets Townsend called the project a “continuous, shifting, colourful beast,” without a true beginning or end, rather than a typical collection of songs placed on the record. Despite the records expansive tone, Townsend is looking to make the work more “palatable.”

But regardless: as much as I have tried to shift my motivations from this weird collection of work to something more ‘palatable’ it seems clear that this is what’s in my path now, so I’m going to finish it in the way that it insists

— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) August 4, 2020

Anyways: the next album, unexpectedly, will be called ‘Lightwork’ and though it’s still being discovered, it’s a weird, alien sounding, effervescent , sunny load of oddness…

— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) August 4, 2020

Townsend has been keeping busy during the COVID-19 pandemic, releasing an expansive amount of content for his Quarantine series alongside three separate improvisational ambient guitar pieces that were each approximately an hour long. He also released a special “Ultimate Edition” for his 2019 studio album release Empath earlier this year.

The artist was a part of a massive jam session alongside Mike Keneally, Morgan Ågren and Nathan Navarro, who performed as The Mandonnas. Ågren and Keneally were were set to perform as a part of Townsend’s touring band this year, however there performances were cancelled due to COVID-19.

Photo Credit: Raymond Flotat