After going it alone last year, Dashboard Confessional [ tickets ] mastermind Chris Carrabba is back in the studio with his band and has a few US tour dates coming up.

The alt-rock outfit will head to the UK next week for a handful of shows and then return to the US for college concerts in Knoxville, TN; Providence, RI; and the Indiana towns of Evansville and Valparaiso. US dates are listed below and those overseas are detailed at the band's website.

In a recent blog posting at DC's website, Carrabba told fans he's been working on new music.

"I took a vacation from my social obligations to write songs and before I knew it, I had a batch that was new and intriguing and, best of all, connected to each other," he said

Carrabba added that he and a group of musicians have entered the studio with producer Adam Schlesinger to work on the project, but there's no release date as of yet.

"Who knows how long these things will take," Carrabba said. "The process is an adventure and a mystery in and of itself."

After touring with a full band for about five years, the frontman took Dashboard Confessional out as a solo act in 2007. The tour supported October's "The Shade of Poison Trees," which entered The Billboard 200 at No. 18 and shot to No. 1 on the Top Independent Albums chart.