Some new in-studio images and a chat with drummer Phil Selway have offered a juicy update on the new album Radiohead have been tinkering away with for most of the year.

Selway previously said the band's September was to become "quite a full schedule" and now he says the band are "back into it" and aiming to finish off the follow-up to 2011's The King of Limbs soon.

"We've got quite a busy Autumn coming up," Selway said to the Press Association for a 6 Music Celebrates Libraries event.

"We want to finish a record and that's where we're at. We're just launching ourselves into it."

While it might be too much to expect to hear the new album before 2015 is over, that could mean the band will at least have it finished in time for Christmas.

The 48-year-old added: "Being asked about Radiohead never becomes a tiresome question; the fact that people are still interested, that can only be a wonderful thing."

Radiohead in the studio - as taken by composer and conductor Robert Ziegler. ( Consequence of Sound )

Meanwhile, composer and conductor Robert Ziegler (who worked with Radiohead on The King of Limbs and with Jonny Greenwood on his film score work) shared a set of in-studio photos on his twitter — then promptly deleted them — Consequence of Sound reported.

The images feature frontman Thom Yorke along with bandmates Greenwood, Ed O'Brien and long-term producer Nigel Godrich together in the studio working with a string orchestra — perhaps a sign of new sonic directions.

An even wilder guess: could it have anything to do with the anonymous booking tip that suggested Radiohead were writing the next James Bond theme song?

In his recent AP interview, Selway also hinted at the potential for wider collaboration in new Radiohead music.

"For so long we kind of played exclusively with each other and that takes you so far, so I suppose from album to album you try to push yourself beyond your comfort zone," Selway said.

Radiohead working in the studio. ( Consequence of Sound )

"We kind of change record to record, try and change the underlying approach to making music," he said of the band's "short attention span" and musical evolution with each new record.

Despite moving forward, the band are also looking back, with Greenwood recently telling Dutch music website 3voor12 the band have been working on old fan favourite Lift.

The song dates back to 1996, and the guitarist likened the new version to Nude, another vintage rarity that was eventually resurrected and released.

"What people don't know is that there's a very old song on each album, like Nude on [2007's] In Rainbows.

"We never found the right arrangement for that, until then. Lift is just like that. When the idea is right, it stays right. It doesn't really matter in which form."

This article was originally published by triple j.