EXCLUSIVE

Kanye West's bounce back from the mental breakdown could come sooner than expected -- the recovery process has his creativity flowing again, and a new album could be in the offing.

Sources close to Kanye tell TMZ ... since he got home, he's been more relaxed and focused. We're told Kanye's built a temporary studio in their Bel-Air mansion so he can have the privacy he needs to get healthy, while also making new music as ideas come to him.

Our sources say Kanye's comparing the breakdown, and 8 day hospital stay, to his near-fatal car crash and his mother's death. We're told he feels he created some of his best work -- "Through The Wire" and '808s' -- after those crises.