Two new Tom Waits [ tickets ] albums--titled "Alice" and "Red Drum"--will be released simultaneously on April 9 by Anti/Epitaph Records. Both were written and produced by Waits and Kathleen Brennan, his wife and frequent collaborator.

According to a press release issued by the label, Waits and Brennan are currently in the studio, putting the finishing touches on the albums.

"Alice" and "Red Drum" are described by the label as "startlingly different in landscape, sound, emotion and composition," but the instrumentation for each is mostly acoustic.

The songs of "Red Drum" were inspired by the nearly 200-year-old Georg Buchner play "Woyzeck," the tale of a poor soldier driven mad by medical experiments and an unfaithful wife. "Alice" is described as "haunting opiate songs played by piano, bass sax, Stroh violin, cello and vibes."