Forbearer to the wave of twisted hip-hop/electro acts that have road on her coattails, enigmatic MC M.I.A. shocked many last year when she abruptly shunned herself into retirement, announcing during a performance at US festival Bonnaroo “this is my last show and I’m glad I’m spending it with all my hippies.”

Since then it’s been pretty quiet around the M.I.A. camp, with the rapper only emerging (heavily pregnant, no less) to kick it at The Grammy’s alongside hip-hop heroes Jay-Z, T.I., Lil Wayne and Kanye West and then back into a classic retiree lifestyle. Yet it would seem as though watching Diane Keaton films and getting lost in Bunnings Warehouse isn’t the life for M.I.A., with news coming to light that she’s back in the studio working on a new album, with regular foils Diplo and Switch at the control desk.

As revealed in an interview with our homies over at Pedestrian, the Major Lazer masterminds are on board the album, already polishing of “four tracks” for it.

“[We’ve] been in the studio with M.I.A. working on her new record,” Diplo told Pedestrian. “It’s like Gucci Mane meets Animal Collective. I think there are a couple of people [producing] but we’re going to finish it off, me and Switch.”

Gucci Mane meets Animal Collective? Sounds insane. But in a good way. Needless to say, we’re pretty excited about seeing where the record will go from here, so hopefully there’s more news on the way.