Portishead guitarist Adrian Utley has revealed that the band have started work on their fourth album.

Utley said that the band, who released their long-awaited third album, entitled 'Third', earlier this year, were already “getting a bit of a plan together.”

“We are thinking a new album," he told BBC 6Music. "That’s partly why we’re not touring enormously, because in 1998 we toured for a year and a bit and it just crashed us.

"None of us wanted to see each other for a while after that."

Utley also added that the band had only toured their latest album for a short period of time so that they could focus on their other projects and spend time with their respective families.

"To be at home with our children, very young children. I mean really, just babies - it is an important time and I don’t want to miss that,” he added.

(by Jason Gregory)