James Murphy's next album may be his last under the name LCD Soundsystem, he has revealed. Murphy said he plans to "probably" disband the project after the as yet unnamed third LP is released in April.
It "should probably be the last [tour]", Murphy told NME. To evolve musically, the New Yorker claims he needs to reinvent himself – likely by conjuring up more pseudonyms. "I know I said [LCD Soundsystem was over] last time and things changed," Murphy said, "but I don't like to repeat myself."
While LCD Soundsystem is a one-man band, Murphy has rarely worked alone. As early as November 2008, touring guitarist Al Doyle told BBC 6 Music that LCD Soundsystem's days were numbered. "I don't think James is going to do anything more under that name," Doyle said. "[He] is quite keen to do a disco thing. Or he's also quite keen to do something that's more of a collaborative project, without him taking so much of a lead."
Murphy later denied the report – and Doyle backtracked. A year later, the follow-up to 2007's Sound of Silver is on the verge of release and the name LCD Soundsystem will again be slapped across the cover. The new album is "definitely better than the other two", Murphy promised, boasting a "wider palette of sound". It was partly recorded in a Los Angeles mansion, he told Mojo in September, envisioned as "an imaginary Los Angeles of the soul from 1973".
"Everyone had to wear white all the time, so it's like some sort of creepy fucking cult and we'd go to parties, 10 people in a mini-van all in white, and we'd have enough of an impact on how Los Angeles operated. You leave a dent."
It's not clear whether the forthcoming album is the "disco thing" described by Doyle, or if that's still in Murphy's back pocket. "I don't like [discussing future plans] because I realise people see them as proclamations of some sort," he said. "When I'm working on [a record] it makes sense to think of it as the last you'll ever do because then you make it good."
• This article was amended on Tuesday 19 January 2010. The guitarist who predicted LCD Soundsystem's days were numbered is Al Doyle, not Andy Boyle. This has been corrected.
