Backstreet Boys Working On 2007 Album

Backstreet Boys will return with a new album in spring of next year, singer AJ McLean tells Access Hollywood.

The four piece (which also includes members Nick Carter, Brian Littrell and Howie Dorough — fifth member Kevin Richardson announced he’d left the group earlier this year) has a host of tracks they are expected to wrap up by January. The group’s been writing and recording with producer Dan Muckala according to McLean. Rob Wells, whose previous credits include writing and producing with Nick Lachey, is also involved.

“It’s very piano driven,” McLean told Access at the Playstation 3 party Wednesday in Los Angeles. “It’s very guitar driven. Lyrically, it’s great. Melodies are back. Harmonies are back.”

Some former boy-banders, such as Justin Timberlake with help from super producer Timbaland, have opted for a dancier sound of late. The Backstreet Boys won’t follow suit.

“It’s not so dancey in that sense,” McLean said. “We’re still gonna dance, we’re still gonna be on stage, we’re still gonna perform, but it’s just really great music. It’s always been about the music for us. That’s the bottom line.”

While working on the new Backstreet album, McLean added he has been pulling double duty, writing and recording his own, first ever solo album.

“I can multi-task,” he said. “Sort of.”

McLean’s own effort, the third for a Backstreet Boy (Carter released his in 2002, Littrell in 2006), will be issued at some point next year, following the drop of the BB album. As for what it sounds like, the singer said, a little bit of everything.

“Mine’s definitely rockier. Mine’s more eclectic. It’s got everything that defines me from rock, soul, funk to all live instrumentation,” he said. “I’m writing the entire thing along with these producers and it’s a lot of personal influence and it’s more real. It’s not about ‘Hey! Nice car, nice ass, nice jewelry,’ it’s about personal things — things that piss me off, my relationship with my father, relationships, just things that I wanna get off my chest”

McLean said he plans to do some after-show club gigs while on the next Backstreet tour and hopes to embark on his own solo trek when the foursome finish their own jaunt.