For the first time in three years, King Crimson will tour the United States this year. The news came directly from founder Robert Fripp.

"King Crimson’s 2017 touring will be mostly in the US," Fripp wrote on his website, "beginning in Seattle and down the West Coast during early June to July; continuing to the East Coast in the Autumn." Coincidentally, Seattle is where their 2014 U.S. tour, which saw them play 17 shows in nine cities over the course of a month, wrapped up. Fripp didn't list any specific dates or other cities, but he did say that more details would be made public "in the coming weeks."

After calling his previous lineup the "Seven-Headed Beast," Fripp is referring to the lineup he's bringing out this year as a "Double Quartet Formation." In addition to himself on guitar and longtime associates Tony Levin (bass, Chapman Stick) and Mel Collins (saxophone), the band consists of singer/guitarist Jakko Jakszyk and four drummers, Bill Rieflin, Gavin Harrison, Pat Mastelotto and Jeremy Stacey. Both Stacey and Rieflin will double on keyboards. Rieflin, who worked with R.E.M. from 2003-11 and joined Crimson in 2013, is returning to the band after a year away from music.

Although King Crimson have released three live recordings in recent years -- 2015's Live at the Orpheum was followed by both Live in Toronto and the three-disc box set Radical Action to Unseat the Hold of Monkey Mind last year -- they have not given us a studio effort since 2003's The Power to Believe.