Bright Eyes ditching folk and country for new album in 2011

Conor Oberst has said that the new Bright Eyes album is going to leave behind the folk and country sounds that have been the band's trademark.

Speaking to Billboard, Oberst said that he was aiming for a "rocking" sound on 'The People's Key' instead.

"We're over the Americana, rootsy, whatever that sound is," he said. "People say country but I never thought were very country at all. But whatever that element is or that aesthetic is, I guess it's worn a little thin for me these days. So we very much wanted it to be rocking and, for lack of a better term, contemporary, or modern."

The album, the seventh Oberst has recorded under the Bright Eyes name, is due on February 14 next year. He has spent much of this year playing as part of Monsters Of Folk and also released his second solo album 'Outer South'.

Oberst also said he wasn't worried about being abandoned by fans over his change in sound.

"It seems like everything I do musically I tend to lose a few fans and gain a few fans," he said, "and it all kind of evens out. It's never for shock value or wanting to alienate the audience in some way. We don't try to do anything other than follow our interests, which are obviously a moving target."

Bright Eyes play a London gig at the Royal Albert Hall on June 23.