Ian Brown (Stones Roses) goes the orchestral route for his next album, plus a new song!

According to the NME, former Stone Roses frontman Ian Brown has recorded material with a 30-piece orchestra for his forthcoming 5th album The World Is Yours, a follow-up to 2004's Solarized, which I quite enjoyed.

"I started thinking about which songs I'd used in February to April last year, then I started on writing the music and working with my producers Black Ox, working on it all July, August," said Brown. "By October/November, I had a clear idea of what songs I wanted to do and then we went into the studio in December, so I've done a month now. I recorded with a 30-piece orchestra last week. It's going to sound amazing!"

Brown has been working with bassists Andy Rourke (Smiths) and Paul Ryder (Happy Mondays) for the album, and has been "chasing" Paul McCartney to help out as well. It's due out later this year.

Check out these two songs from Solarized which I love -- a dense, stylish and fascinating album. Brown has long been interested in classical sounds incorporated into modern songs, as evidenced by the looped strings & clanging piano notes mixed with taut beats on tunes such as this one (from Solarized):

Keep What Ya Got - Ian Brown

Man I love that song. I've always smiled at the tongue-in-cheek lyric about fame, "When your halo slips for good you'll have to wear your hood." Then this tune, "Sweet Fantastic" (which is indeed both), starts with a brass band bit that lapses into sleek downtempo goodness. It's lovely and sexy.

Sweet Fantastic - Ian Brown

Finally, check out the brand new instrumental from Ian Brown called "On Track" just added to his MySpace page, written for the Russian movie Paragraf 78. I have no idea how that collaboration came about, and clicking unknown links on the apocalyptic Russian page freaked me out (you like downld virus? okay!), so I have nothing more to report on the movie itself.

[stream] On Track - Ian Brown