Killing two birds with one stone, Pete Townshend has announced that he is developing a new musical, the songs from which will provide the material for a forthcoming Who album. The musical, titled Floss, features songs that “are interspersed with surround-sound ’soundscapes’ featuring complex sound effects and musical montages,” according to Townshend. The musical’s plot revolves around Walter, a “pub-rock” musician who hits the big time when one of his songs is featured in a car commercial. Flush with cash, Walter becomes a “house husband” and his wife, Floss, takes up horseback riding; after a 15 year hiatus, however, “he finds that what he hears and what he composes evoke the ecologically rooted, apocalyptic mindset of his generation. Shaken by this and torn by personal difficulties, he and Floss become estranged,” according to Townshend.

In regards to the album, Townshend revealed that it will be designed as a “son et lumière piece” to be debuted in 2011. He is in talks with producers in New York and hopes to release some of the musical’s more “conventional” songs on a Who album sometime next year.

You can’t rock as hard when you’re unplugged, so that’s probably why Roger Daltrey and Pete Townshend don’t do it that often — but they will be performing a rare acoustic gig to benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust at Arsenal Football Club’s annual charity ball in two weeks.
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