The Raconteurs News

The Raconteurs--the group featuring Jack White and Brendan Benson--are rush releasing their second album for next week (March 25). The band have announced that their second LP, entitled Consolers Of The Lonely, will be "available everywhere" from Tuesday.

This includes vinyl and CD formats as well digital formats, although the band concede not every outlet will be able to meet their rapid release scale and some will have to "join as soon as they can."

The follow-up to 2006's Broken Boy Soldiers features 14 tracks, was completed the first week of March this year, and follows the Raconteurs joking last year that it would be a "drug-fueled" record.

According to the band, the record was "then taken immediately to a vinyl pressing plant. Then to a CD pressing plant. Then preparations to sell it digitally began. March 25 became the soonest date to have it available in EVERY FORMAT AT ONCE. The band have done no interviews or advertisements for this record before this announcement."

The group added that they wanted the sudden release so that everyone, fans and media, got the record at the same time "so that no one has an upper hand on anyone else regarding it's availability, reception or perception."

The Raconteurs denied that the rush release was to counter an Internet leak of the album, and they explained they would promote the record after its release.

"In the event that the record leaks, we didn't want this method of release to be seen as a reaction to such a leak," they explained. "It's not. The actual worst thing about a leak is the usual poor sound quality, akin to watching a movie on a wristwatch instead of in a theater. Which for the album's creators is a bit of a letdown, but again, it is completely up to the listener."

A video for the single "Salute Your Solution" will appear online on March 25 as well, although the band--featuring Jack White, Brendan Benson, Patrick Keeler, and Little Jack Lawrence--prefer that fans download the album as a whole.

"The band also prefer that fans buy the album as a whole instead of breaking up the tracks, but until iTunes and other digital services allows bands to release their albums with the option of NOT breaking it up, it will be sold in that fashion on those particular sites," they said. "On the band's website however, the album will be sold in its entirety as mp3s at 320kb bit rate. Also in Japan, fans will be able to download the record via their mobile phones, as that is how a majority of recorded music is consumed there."

They concluded: "We hope not to confuse anyone with too many options, or deny them the formats that they like best. The Raconteurs feel very strongly that music has worth and should be treated as such. Thank you to all those who respect music in this fashion, and thank you to our label partners for working with us to get this album to fans in as many formats as possible all at once."

For more on the Raconteurs, check out their NME.com page.