My Bloody Valentine to record new album

Kevin Shields and his band are to begin work on their first album in 17 years after he realised the material he abandoned in 1996 was pretty good after all

Kevin Shields ... 'I realised that the stuff I was doing in 1996 was a lot better than I thought' Photograph: Steve Jennings/Corbis

Seventeen years and hundreds of thousands of pounds later, Kevin Shields is again working on a My Bloody Valentine album.

Shields confirmed the rumours at the My Bloody Valentine-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival this weekend, taking his earplugs out for long enough to talk to the New York Times. He will be returning to songs started over a decade ago, during abortive sessions for Island Records. "I realised that all that stuff I was doing in 1996 and 1997 was a lot better than I thought," he said.

The reunited My Bloody Valentine played several UK dates this summer and are now completing a North American tour. Shields hopes to begin recording new material with the band this autumn.

It has been 17 years since the release of Loveless, My Bloody Valentine's legendary album, which cost £250,000 to record, bringing Creation Records close to bankruptcy. "It was," Shields said this weekend, "a very, very damaged time for everybody."

My Bloody Valentine then signed to Island Records and Shields spent years in isolation, working in the studio until in 1997 Island finally cut him off, upset at the lack of progress. "That was it," Shields explained. "It was like the plug was pulled, 'No money for you anymore.'"

Revenue from the recent gigs have allowed the band to buy some £200,000 in equipment, and though the revitalised group has not yet been performing new songs, Shields seems enthusiastic for the future. He's not worried, either, that his outlook has improved from the "loveless" days of the early 90s.

"I definitely don't think you need to suffer to be creative," he insisted. "I've written some of my best songs when I've been happy."

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