From Alternative Press magazine FILTER Working Album Title: Abyssinian Son Projected Release Date: Mid 1998, on Reprise Why is it Anticipated? News of Brian Liesegang's departure from Filter spread faster than Princess Diana car-crash photos. Can mainman Richard Patrick successfully follow up the band's multi-platinum 1995 debut album, Short Bus, without his former partner? What's It Gonna Sound Like? There was some speculation that "Can't U Trip Like I do" Filer's collaboration with the Crystal Method for the Spawn soundtrack, would rub off on Patrick's future work. As much as he admits a fondness for some of the new electronica, Patrick realizes Filter fans want to hear guitars and songs, and not sequencer programs. "If there are no songs, I don't care what the drums sound like," stresses Patrick, who spends his evenings writing music when he's not hanging drywall in the Chicago studio he's building. "As far as direction goes, instrumentation is one thing, but my personal growth as a songwriter is another." Once he is comfortable with the finished songs, Patrick will call in a producer to oversee the results. At that point, the songs will take on defined arrangements. "I'll tell the producer to stir the tracks," he says obliquely. "If one of them explodes on the way to the moon, great. If one doesn't, maybe it'll be interesting." -Jason Pettigrew AP Staff writer