The group will also undertake what Roger Daltrey has said could be their last tour

The Who have confirmed that they are working on their first album of new material in 13 years. Lead guitarist Pete Townshend said in a statement that fans could expect “dark ballads, heavy rock stuff, experimental electronica, sampled stuff and Who-ish tunes that began with a guitar that goes yanga-dang”.

The album is due later this year. It follows the band’s 11th studio album, Endless Wire, released in 2006, which included a 10-part mini-opera. Guardian music critic Alexis Petridis described it as “a fitting coda to [the] band’s career”.

The group has also teased details of a US orchestral tour. Lead singer Roger Daltrey said of the tour: “Be aware Who fans! That just because it’s the Who with an orchestra, in no way will it compromise the way Pete and I deliver our music. This will be full throttle Who with horns and bells on.”

Daltrey, 74, has said it could be his last tour. “I have to be realistic that this is the age I am and voices start to go after a while,” he told the Mirror. “I don’t want to be not as good as I was two years ago.” The group previously suggested that a Las Vegas residency in 2017 would be the start of their “long goodbye”.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest The Who in 1965 ... from left, Roger Daltrey, John Entwistle, Pete Townshend and Keith Moon. Photograph: The Visualeyes Archive/Redferns

Townshend, 73, had said he would commit to the tour only if they had new material. “This has nothing to do with wanting a hit album [or] the fact the Who need a new album. It’s purely personal. It’s about my pride, my sense of self-worth and self-dignity as a writer.”

The pair communicate through their management. Daltrey told the Mirror that Townshend “wanted a year off, so I haven’t spoken to him for a year. That is how we are. He needs that time away.” He added: “It is not music to fuck to. Ours is music to fight to and if it ever loses that fighting edge – which still exists between Pete and I – then I will stop. Because then I will be cheating my audience.”

Townshend and Daltrey are the only remaining full-time members of the Who. Drummer Keith Moon died in 1978; replacement drummer Kenney Jones left the band in 1988, and bassist John Entwistle died in 2002. Their current touring band includes Zak Starkey, son of Beatles drummer Ringo Starr, and Simon Townshend, younger brother of Pete.

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Daltrey recently told Billboard magazine that he hopes to release a live album from recent orchestral performances of the band’s 1969 rock opera Tommy, which featured new arrangements by composer David Campbell. Daltrey has said he would like to undertake a similar tour of their second rock opera, 1973’s Quadrophenia. He published a memoir, Thanks a Lot Mr Kibblewhite: My Story, in October.

Daltrey said that he is still pursuing a biopic of Moon, a project that has been in the work for three decades, and dismissed rumours that the Who would perform at this year’s 50th anniversary revival of the Woodstock festival. The band performed at the original 1969 event.

“August in America is too hot for me to work any more,” Daltrey said. “You can’t redo Woodstock because the stars of Woodstock were the audience. You can celebrate the date, but you can’t redo [the festival].”