After years of whetting fans' appetites for new music — and hinting at the allegedly imminent arrival of a new album — MGMT appear to be closer than ever to a return.

The band's most recent full-length effort, their self-titled LP from 2013, was first expected to be followed up in 2016. Those hopes were dashed, however, when the record was given a projected 2017 release date. There's been little in the way of actual news regarding that album this year, although MGMT appeared to be close to putting it out last spring, when they announced it would be called Little Dark Age and even added a handful of songs to their live setlist.

That was some time ago, and the lack of any official updates has made it possible to speculate regarding all sorts of reasons for the delay. It looks like the album has at least managed to hang onto its title in the interim, however: The MGMT social media channels posted an update on Oct. 12, sharing what seems to be a brief snippet of new music along with the hashtag #LittleDarkAge.

It's anyone's guess as to whether this post means Little Dark Age will make its way to stores before the end of the year, but in this era of surprise album drops, there's still plenty of time between now and Dec. 31. Whenever it arrives, fans can at least be confident that the band didn't rush to get it ready.

The 50 Most Influential Alternative Musicians of the 21st Century

More From The Moose 94.7 FM