Not only is this new trek an opportunity for the band to view blossoms across the States, but a chance to share some new material, four years in the making, with their fans as well.

The mystery album now has a title: Keep It Together – vastly different from the previously proposed Come Downstairs & Say Hello, Bitch Magic, and Olympia Dukakis. And, as they said, “It only took us two years to make it! We learned it from watching you, Guns N’ Roses, we learned it from watching you!”

For Guster fans wondering why the heck it’s taken so long for this new album to come out, drummer Brian Rosenworcel cleared things up late last year. “Our album isn’t being scrapped or shelved or even changed substantially. It’s just coming out early next year instead of late this year. Our manager, Dalton Sim of the Dalton Sim Management Company Incorporated, was the one that told us we were better off waiting until February or March of 2003 to release the album,” he wrote in a post on the band’s Web site.

Unfortunately, fans will have to wait a few months longer as Keep It Together isn’t expected to hit shelves until June. However, Guster have been nice enough to upload a couple of songs from the forthcoming disc on their Web site. Check out guster.com for a listen of “Safari” and “Ramona.” Listeners are also invited to give an opinion on whether or not “Safari” should remain named as such or whether the band should “add more compression to the snare drum when we remix ‘Ramona.'”

Since hitting the East Coast music scene in the late ‘90s, Guster have been hailed as one of the great indie successes. Thanks to their quirky tunes and ceaseless gigging, the band developed a dedicated fanbase and quickly became a popular draw in the Boston area.

After releasing their second album, Goldfly, in 1997, Guster took their show on the road and began to pack out clubs nationally. One year later, they landed a major label contract with Sire Records Group and debuted Lost And Gone Forever in 1999. Their new album will be issued on Palm and Reprise.