THERAPY? are back with a new album released this week that will signal the start of a busy year for the band's Derby-drummer Neil Cooper.

Neil believes the trio's 13th studio album Brief Crack Of Light showcases all that's best about the band and sets them up nicely for the headline tours and festival dates to come this year.

Released on Blast Records (a subsidiary of The Global Music Group), this week, A Brief Crack of Light was conceived in Derby and recorded in Newcastle.

Neil says: "We are really excited about the album. It's the first we have produced ourselves and sonically we are really happy with it. The drums, the guitars, everything has come out so well.

"We have recorded a lot of albums and we know producers bring a lot to a record but we got to the point where we really thought we should do it ourselves. We are capable of being honest with each, because it's the producer who usually says 'come on you can do better than that'.

"But we are old enough and wise enough to rise above that and we knew what we wanted before we even went in the studio.

"The album was predominantly written in Derby at the Snug studios. All the pre-production was done here, so when we hit the studio it was all there. Adam Sinclair (New York Dolls, The Unthanks) engineered it and co-produced it and we just said we want A and B and he had the technical know how to make it happen.

"Doing it ourselves could have worked out horribly but it really came together."

The band, which features Andy Cairns and Michael McKeegan alongside Neil, fitted the songwriting around live dates including going to Greece with The Prodigy.

Neil says: "We took our time about it and made sure we had the right songs for the album."

The album is the band's first on Blast Records, the previous album Crooked Timber having been put out by Demolition.

Both are part of the same music group but Neil feels the leftfield approach that Therapy? take means they fit more comfortably in the Blast stable.

He says: "We are really happy. It's a worldwide deal but run by guys who are hands on, who have been in the business years and who have an old school approach that centres around getting out touring and then making sure the album is in the shops and online when people are ready to buy it.

"We are in a good place at the moment."

The band will begin to tour the album in March with live dates in Ireland and America.

Then in April they join Skindred for a series of Jägermeister-sponsored events across the UK that are already heading for a complete sell out.

"We have made sure it's a really good ticket price and want to make sure it's a real party atmosphere," says Neil. "Musically Skindred are full on but are a bit left of centre as well. We are different musically but similar in an alternative sense. I think that set of dates will be brilliant."

After that it will be summer festivals for the band before an autumn headline tour that will see Therapy? go on the road for around 10 weeks.

Meanwhile, the album has already been getting good reviews.

Neil says: "I can't wait for everybody to hear it. Because we had hold of the reins we had a very clear idea of how we wanted the record to sound so there's a great sense of pride in it."

A Brief Crack Of Light was released on Monday on Bast Records. Go to www.therapyquestionmark.co.uk for more about the band.