William Snyder/Trinifold

William Snyder/TrinifoldPete Townshend has shared some fresh details about The Who‘s forthcoming studio album, which the band is still working on, in a new interview with Billboard.

Townshend, who took a break from The Who in 2018, tells the magazine he spent from May to August working on 15 tracks for the record. He reveals that some of the tunes are completely new, while others were “rescued from ancient history.”

Pete describes the material as “a mixture of stuff…some songs which cater for the part of the Who audience that have a preconception about what is a Who track but are also willing to take some chances.”

He says that spoken-word segments are featured in some new tunes, and among the tracks are a sea chanty, and songs about homelessness, an old girlfriend and the Syrian refugee crisis, the latter of which is titled “Twice Refugees.”

“It’s a pretty wide range of stuff,” Townshend tells Billboard. “Some of it’s pseudo-operatic, some of it’s electronica. There’s a few ballads. I’ve got quite a lot of extreme sample stuff. I don’t think Who fans — people who like Who music — will be overly surprised.”

Pete says his only prerequisite in writing the new material was that singer Roger Daltrey would love the new tunes.

“I just tried to write songs I thought he could get inside and that would interest him and intrigue him and challenge him,” Townshend notes.

The new album will arrive sometime after The Who launches its Movin’ On! tour, which begins May 7 in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Pete says the shows, which will feature the band accompanied by an orchestra at each stop, will include “a short version of Tommy, a short version of Quadrophenia, a few new things and then closing with a few classics.”

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