SOUNDGARDEN singer Chris Cornell says that the band is working on material for its next album at a "relaxed pace." The group's last effort, "King Animal", came out in November 2012.

Cornell told Guitar World magazine: "Before the end of the year, we'll certainly be working on writing a lot, but I don't see us recording it. I think we're going to make serious headway. The thing about us is, we don't use a calendar. That's the only quantifier we use; it's the only rule we carved out when we got back together. There's no stress or tension in being SOUNDGARDEN anymore, and that's been super-positive. There hasn't been one lull in our euphoria for being a band again, and I think it's important for it to remain that way. That's how we're gonna do it, by not having a cycle."

Cornell told The Pulse Of Radio that he thinks it's good for the band members to spend time on their own projects. "We all bring in our outside-the-band experiences back in, and that doesn't seem to ever be anything but a good thing," he said. "It's great to sort of go out into a different world and come back with new understandings of how to write songs and how to record albums, and also just that sort of palate-clearing of doing something different."

"Higher Truth", Cornell's fourth solo studio album, arrives on September 18 and features the single "Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart".

Cornell will begin a solo acoustic tour in support of "Higher Truth" on September 18 in San Diego, winding down on November 4 in Phoenix.