The Rakes head to Berlin for new album

The Rakes have decamped to Berlin to record their third album.

They are currently working on what singer Alan Donohoe calls their "strongest songs yet" for the follow-up to 2007's 'Ten New Messages'.

Setting up residence in a converted Soviet radio station on the east side of the city has given the band a new lease of life, reckons the singer.

He said: "The London music scene is so dull right now – it's like wading through a swamp of shit. We just wanted to be somewhere more inspiring. Someone suggested Berlin. It didn't take long for everyone to agree. We packed our bags and moved here just like that. We love it."

With the new location comes a new producer, Chris Zane, whose previous credits include Les Savy Fav and The Walkmen.

Donohoe continued: "The album is raw, playful, exciting, complex and schizophrenic – much like the personality of Berlin itself. It couldn't be more of a fitting place to record it. Chris has found this raw but massive sound, it's sharp like razors; like pouring boiling bleach on our peers."

The album is due for release in spring 2009.