JUST weeks after Billy Clyro's triumphant three-night residency at the Barrowland ballroom comes further news of the Ayrshire rockers' latest album.

Singer Simon Neil says the new tracks on the follow-up to the bestselling double album, Opposites, have titles such as Herex, Balance Not Symmetry ("which sounds like a stoner rocker band playing a Police song"), Following Master and In the Name of the Wee Man.

The trio currently has 20 songs that are "about 80 per cent finished."

In terms of the album's sound, Neil added: "When I say 'stripped back' it's not going to sound skeletal or anything but perhaps a bit more aggressive."

He tells Q magazine that he may "go somewhere fancy" to record his vocals for the songs, with the instrumentation being recorded elsewhere.

The album, as yet untitled, is not expected to be released until next autumn.

Biffy may do "a couple of shows in Europe and squeeze in one in the UK," Neil adds.

"I'm not a fan of bands that are constantly in your face. Absence makes the heart grow fonder so, as much as we'd like to tour, I think it's important that we ---- off for a bit and hopefully people will miss us."

In the Q interview Neil is also frank about his health.

He says: "For the first time ever I had real health issues last year. Getting older, my own mortality popped into my mind a lot more.

"I ended up having a bit of a breakdown."

He says he was about to go through immigration as a US airport when he had to be taken aside and was wired up to a heart monitor.

He was strapped into a chair - "there were all these medics around me.

"It was the most terrifying moment of my life because I felt like my mind and body just broke.

"I was ordered to have bed rest by the doctor because I was in such a bad state.

"There was a big change - a forced change - in my personal life. Rather than thinking about the band all the time, I took a step back and thought about my survival as a human being."

Neil went on holiday and also spent time with his wife.

"Things became very clear to me about how to let my own soul flourish while digging into dark places," he added.

"I think, as well, just singing really personal songs took its toll and I felt like a bit of a shell of a man and I kind of lost myself.

"At a certain point I thought, 'Can I be happy and do this? If I'm mining these parts of my mind and soul, can I do that and still exist in a healthy place?'

"I realised that I'm not quite as invincible as I thought I was.

"But good old prescriptions can get you through anything! I feel great now."

In an interview at the beginning of December, Biffy drummer Ben Johnston said the band would be recording the new LP next summer.

He said: "It's coming along; we're not in any massive rush at all - we don't want to anything that's not perfect. We're working hard - we've got too many songs, which is great! A great place to be at."

In terms of which studio the band would use, Johnston said nothing had been finalised yet but they would like to record somewhere 'exotic'. "It's going to be somewhere exotic, I think!" he said. "We always like to get away from Scotland to record - we try and go somewhere different from here, with sunshine and a bit a of warmth. We'll see what happens."