Adding Moon Club pre-sale tickets to the site swamped us with traffic so we had to close the Forum for a while, but it is now back. Sorry for any inconvenience caused by the problems over the weekend.

The first Double A-side - Digital 45 from 'Scratch My Back' is available now. Peter and Stephin Merritt of The Magnetic Fields talk about the two tracks - 'The Book of Love' and 'Not One Of Us' in this month's video update.

Tickets and special offers for Peter's 'New Blood' - 'Scratch My Back' live shows with orchestra, no drums and no guitars are now on sale for venues in Germany, France and England. Check our 'Live' page for details of Full Moon Club pre-sales and special access bundles for Canada and The United States of America

With only 6 days to go until the release of 'Scratch My Back' on February 15th 2010, details are gradually escaping the studio. We thought we'd open the door a little wider. You can get a taste of the album in Peter's introductory podcast series. You may have seen the now finalised track-listing and running-order we published in the 'news' section - if so, it will be no surprise to read that the album will feature Peter's recordings of Heroes (David Bowie), The Boy in the Bubble (Paul Simon), Mirrorball (Elbow), Flume (Bon Iver), Listening Wind (Talking Heads), The Power of the Heart (Lou Reed), My Body is a Cage (Arcade Fire), The Book of Love (The Magnetic Fields), I Think it's Going to Rain Today (Randy Newman), Après Moi (Regina Spektor), Philadelphia (Neil Young) and Street Spirit (Fade Out) (Radiohead).

Peter describes this as a very personal record with the twelve songs performed only with orchestral instruments and voice. To help craft the recording Peter enlisted John Metcalfe as arranger, the expertise of producer Bob Ezrin (Pink Floyd's 'The Wall', Lou Reed's 'Berlin') and the engineer, mixer and producer Tchad Blake (Suzanne Vega, Sheryl Crow, Tom Waits).

'Scratch My Back' was recorded at George Martin's Air Lyndhurst Studios and the Real World Temple with further editing back here at Real Worlds Studios in Wiltshire. Those lucky enough to be at last summers WOMAD Charlton Park got a preview of the record when Peter opened his set with Paul Simon's 'The Boy In The Bubble' and 'The Book of Love' from The Magnetic Fields. Hopefully we'll be able to let the rest of you hear some excerpts soon.