Television recorded an album in 2007 that may or may not ever see daylight

Television aren’t a very prolific band, though they are incredibly deliberate. Such deliberation, and Tom Verlaine’s perfectionist streak, ultimately explains why their potential fourth album is already collecting dust, whether or not it actually gets released.

Television recorded a total of three studio albums since their 1977 debut with the Marquee Moon. Their third and most recent album is already old enough to drink (and you thought Bloc Party took forever to release a new album.)

Now, according to Rolling Stone, it appears the clean-riffing, psych-punk visionaries have an album’s worth of material in the pantry, and there isn’t much effort being taken to release it to the public any time soon.

Said guitarist Jimmy Rip (Richard Lloyd’s replacement as of 2007), “Tom’s pretty adamant about making a real effort to make something new each time.” He added, “It doesn’t make for super-fast work, but it’s definitely an admirable goal.”

Geoff Sanoff, who engineered the sessions, said, “It sounded amazing. It was so clean and so crisp. As soon as you set them up playing, they just sounded like Television.”

Drummer Billy Ficca was less reassuring about the album’s release: “It might happen before we all die, I don’t know.” He added, ”It’s sort of laying there.”

Television are touring however, and playing “a whole new bag of songs” according to Rip. Here are some upcoming dates:

Television 2013 Tour Dates:
24/10 – Auckland, NZ @ Powerstation
26/10 – Melbourne, AU @ ATP Release the Bats
30/10 – Sydney, AU @ Enmore Theatre
05/11 – San Francisco, CA @ The Independent
07/11 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theater
09/11 – Austin, TX @ Fun Fun Fun Fest
17/11 – Manchester, UK @ Manchester Academy 2
19/11 – London, UK @ Roundhouse
21/11 – Dublin, IR @ Vicar Street
22-24/11 – Camber, UK @ ATP’s End Of An Era

[via CoS]