Neil Young announces new album: it will also include songs written in 1963

Neil Young has confirmed that he has completed the new album with Chrome Hearts, produced by Rick Rubin. The announcement came via an update posted on the Neil Young Archives website, following some previews already shared back in March.

In discussing the work on the record, Young pointed out an unexpected detail: three of the included tracks date all the way back to the early 1960s. Retrieved from his personal archives, these previously unreleased pieces date back to 1963, a period when the musician was just starting out with his first bands. "One day we'd run out of songs," the Canadian singer-songwriter recalled. "We needed more. The next morning I had a song running through my head and I was playing it. I checked the archives and found out it was from 1963, unreleased."

The result is an album that combines material from vastly different eras: three compositions more than sixty years old sit alongside five new tracks. The process moved quickly: mixing and assembly wrapped up within about a month, with final completion on April 1st.

It's plausible that the archival songs date back to the era of The Squires, the first band Young played in back in Winnipeg, before crossing paths with Stephen Stills and setting off on the path that would lead to the formation of Buffalo Springfield.

Young described the album as a deeply personal work, emphasizing the emotional bond he feels with the new songs and the feelings they evoke. The release is expected for summer, though the official title and date have yet to be announced. The project will also be released as a fully analog recording.

Before the new studio album, though, a live release will arrive first: "As Time Explodes," recorded during last year's tour across Europe and the United States, featuring reworked versions of old and new songs alike.

Despite the recent cancellation of the European and UK tour, Young has stressed how satisfied he is to be working and playing with Chrome Hearts at this stage of his career.

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