Devin Townsend shared that his upcoming ambient album, The Puzzle, has unexpectedly turned into the followup to his 2019 album Empath and is hoped to release in spring. He had originally intended to release it last month.

When he first announced the album, he revealed some details about it, “Ok so: been hyper inspired making this bizzare project over the past few weeks called Puzzle.” He continued to mention that it was “basically done” but waiting on the completion of an accompanying video that will be the way Townsend prefers people will experience it. 

“It’s sort of an ambient thing I guess, though really orchestrated… It’s one of the most cathartic things I’ve done in years. It came out in a fury… so much data in such short time 🙂 I’ll keep tweaking it until the release because I’ve enjoyed the process so much and maybe you’ll like it too. It’s a trip. Thanks Travis for providing the perfect counterpart to what I’ve been hearing.”

So ‘The Puzzle’ has turned into the follow up to Empath, unexpectedly… release in Spring I’m hoping

— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) November 9, 2020

I see it like powaqquatsi or something… or like those old pink Floyd laser light shows… it’s a soundtrack to an undefined (as of now) story

— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) November 9, 2020

I tend to get shit for divulging too much information on Twitter, but it helps my process to see how things feel once I’ve announced them, sometimes it results in a change of plans just by verbalizing it.

— Devin Townsend (@dvntownsend) November 9, 2020

Today on Twitter, Townsend revealed that it had become an official album and made comments comparing it to something like Phillip Glass’ Powaqqatsi. He’d originally announced that his next official release would be an “abstract and stream of conscious” album called Lightwork. It’s unclear whether The Puzzle came out of that, but it appears to have been made in the same line of thought.

“Almost seems like it would make sense for it to be a continuous, shifting, colourful beast as opposed to a collection of songs, more like songs in a highly elaborate and sort of alien stream of conscious: no real beginning or end…this is what’s in my path now,” he said about Lightwork in August.

Townsend released two unofficial offerings, Guitar Improvisation #1 and #2 in spring this year. More recently, in October, he put out a live album, Order of Magnitude – Empath Live Volume 1, featuring versions of “Genesis,” “War” and “Why.”

He started his career as the frontman for industrial metal band Strapping Young Lad and has enjoyed a prolific solo career since his 1997 album Biomech. Three of his mid-2000s albums, Devlab, Synchestra and The Hummer were the subject of a recent podcast episode he guested on. Devlab was his first ambient album. In October, he played a request-only quarantine concert, and he has also been announced to appear at some music festivals in 2021, including Brutal Assault and Tons of Rock.

Photo credit: Raymond Flotat