Carl Barat released an album, Let It Reign, with his new band, the Jackals, in January, but he said he'll be putting them on the back burner to focus his energies on his first love, the Libertines.

"I've been waking up in the morning with Libertines lyrics in my head," He told NME. "I've been waking up in the morning with Libertines lyrics in my head, hurriedly getting the typewriter out, then figuring out brass arrangements for the Jackals in the evening. But I'm off to Thailand tomorrow for a month's recording. This is the album. The big push.

Barat revealed that the Libertines are going to record with Jake Gosling (Ed Sheeran, One Direction) for their third album. "We wanted someone who is getting their thing going, rather than someone who is just going to put us through their machine," he said. "This isn't a heritage band making a heritage album."

He also mentioned that the music "surprisingly upbeat." So it looks like the Libertines are really trying to go somewhere else with this third record. But considering the band have decided to record their first LP since 2004 at Karma Studios in Thailand, the change of scenery would probably change things up a little bit. We can't wait to find out what it sounds like. The album is expected to drop later this year.

But now that Barat is back to working with the Libertines, what will happen to the Jackals He admitted the band needs some space, at least for now. "It's dawned on the band that we're at the sunset of this [album] cycle now," he said. "We've been in the trenches together, but now they're going to knuckle down and figure out what it is they've got to say and what I can bring to it."

He also said, "As much as I prize this thing with the Jackals and doing the hard work touring on a shoestring, with the Libertines we've done all that and more. It's been a tumultuous ride. When I'm back in a room with those boys, that's all that exists. We have history, and songs that we can just lie back and fall into. If I lie back in this band, I'll just fall into the drum kit."

Watch the Libertines sign their record deal with Virgin/EMI in Thailand in the video below.

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