In the 17 years since the release of 1997’s Static & Silence, London indie-pop greats the Sundays have basically lived up to that album’s title. Having essentially retired from music so that singer Harriet Wheeler and guitarist David Gavurin could focus on raising their two children, they rarely give interviews and never release new material. But they’ve surfaced again in American Airlines inflight magazine American Way of all places. A new feature interview in the mag features an email exchange with Wheeler and Gavurin in which they reveal they’ve been working on music. In response to a question about where they might be willing to play a reunion show, the couple offered this response: “The contentious bit unfortunately is the reunion gig — first let’s see if the music we’re currently writing ever sees the light of day, and then we can get on to the enjoyable globe-trotting-meets-concert-planning stage.” Incidentally, they also said they’d be excited to play shows in new exotic locations such as Aruba, Fiji, and Baltra in the Galapagos rather than returning to places they’ve already performed. “Beyond that, of course, we might have to look at whether any of these destinations would have an audience for The Sundays over and above the odd tortoise or triggerfish. Nice to think about, though.”

How did American Way land the scoop? In his Editor’s Note column, editor Adam Pitluk explains that he’s been obsessed with the band ever since seeing them in Cleveland in 1993, and his curiosity finally got the best of him last year. So he tracked down Sundays bassist Paul Brindley, now “the CEO and co-founder of Music Ally, a London-based company that explores and implements ways in which music and technology can co-evolve,” and Brindley in turn put Pitluk in touch with Wheeler and Gavurin, though not without some persistence: “Paul was a nice bloke and volunteered to nudge Harriet and Dave to do an interview. Understand, won’t you, what a tall order that was, since Harriet and Dave have essentially shied away from the media for the past 17 years. But I’m a pest and Paul’s a good guy, and Harriet and Dave provided American Way with a world exclusive.” As a result of the feature, American also put Sundays songs on the in-flight playlists this month, which is just wonderful.

This is all very exciting, but does it mean we can expect new Sundays music to see the light of day? “Can’t Be Sure.”

[Photo by Kevin Cummins/Getty Images.]