With two LPs to their name and a rapidly widening fan base, geek chic five-piece Hot Chip have set anticipation high for their third album Made In The Dark. Previously unheard songs have been popping up in the band’s live sets, and their recent DJ Kicks compilation boasted a shiny new Hot Chip number, My Piano. While you won’t be able to get your hands on Made In The Dark until early February 2008, Billboard.com has uncovered a few tantalising tidbits in an interview with lead vocalist Alex Taylor.

“We started the whole process when the other record The Warning was being released,” Taylor told the website. “And for the first time, we wrote songs in band practices. For us, these subtle changes make a big difference. We went quite a while without being inclusive, in having everyone play on the previous records.”

The guys have also experimented with working outside the studio, channelling their onstage spontaneity into the recordings.

“We recorded six demos in January, and that was our first experience being in a studio other than a room or a basement,” Taylor continues. “I remember a lot of discussion about improvising in the studio, and listening to bands like This Heat. We wanted to take it away from the computer; it became more about recording everything we do, and piecing it together later.”

Can’t contain your excitement? Check out this snatch of Hot Chip performing My Piano at Germany’s Melt Festival in July this year! Altogether now: “It’s not the end…”