The Middle East announce new album ‘I Want That You Are Always Happy’

Earlier this year, I wondered out loud what’d happened to SXSW 2010 stars the Middle East in the year since, aside from an enjoyable enough MySpace track; the answer is the promising folk act has been wrapping up a new record, finally. Per iTunes, the grammatically awkward full-length debut I Want That You Are Always Happy is due April 8 — in Australia. No word on a U.S. release date, but at least you can set up your Mediafire Google alerts.

In further folk news, Andrew Bird collaborator Simone White seems to be making progress on her next full-length — she says she’s tracking vocals tomorrow. More albums as we get ’em on the 2011 album release calendar.