One Direction teases new album with free single

New York - Boy band One Direction, whose last album was 2013's top seller, on Monday announced a November release for their latest record and streamed a free single to whet fans' appetites.

The British heartthrobs' fourth album - entitled, simply, Four - will go on sale on 17 November. In a message to fans on their website, One Direction offered free downloads for one day of the first track, entitled Fireproof.

Fireproof stays largely true to One Direction's style, with light guitar-based pop backing up multiple singers, avoiding the heavier sound with which the band flirted on their last album, Midnight Memories.



Midnight Memories sold four million copies worldwide last year, making it the most-bought album of 2013 even though it was released in late November.

One Direction have been prolific in their output since storming onto the stage in 2010 with performances on the British talent show The X Factor.

On October 11-12, a film of one of the band's concerts in Italy - called Where We Are, after the name of their tour - will air in cinemas around the world, following up on One Direction's documentary film This Is Us last year.

One Direction joins a list of bands that have chosen to release albums entitled simply by their number in their respective discographies, with artists as diverse as Beyoncé and Stone Temple Pilots also making records called Four or some variation thereof.