To me, it's pretty obvious a lack of inspiration which takes him so long. It's not good for Mark's output to lock in with Guy alone for months, fiddle around with all kind of nonsense gear and and try to find inspiration that way. Also his song writing has become more of a habit than real art during the last decade, it seems he doesn't know what else to do with his time. Sometimes time frames are good for creativity. When he was in rented studios, the work was much more concentrated and therefore the output was better - from my point of view of course. He should change Guy, change the band, change the studio. Ragpicker was recorded in a very short time compared to everything after and seems to be his best one still.
That last wherever album was testament to an artist not having new ideas, polished by a Guy (pun intended) who dreams of doing his own stuff but lacking creativity. It was never so clear to me that MK has lost interest after that last album.
I really don't even expect anything from this new effort. I used to hope for surprises but today it's just fear that it gets even more cringe. For me, Tracker was a good album with some outstanding tracks. I loved listen to it complete and enjoyed it very much. With the tour things were already getting worse. He should have stopped after that.
LE
I think this is true to some extent. I believe Mark is very lucky since he discovered his main talent and still develop it after 50 years. You can do it for the rest of your life as many people did, leaving their newest works unfinished when they died, so I don't think what's happening with MK is a lack of inspiration. I think the guy never had a single day of writing block and is the most consistent songwriter I know.
He's just in an extremely peculiar position right now, I can imagine how he feels. A couple of his closest relatives recently died, as well as some of his friends, his touring is either dead or alive, nobody knows, he struggles with playing, yet he obviously wants more time to spend with his family but also writing songs, time moves away faster and faster. Everybody expects another brilliant album from him, filled with great songs, another staple of great recording and mixing, so the pressure on him is going all over the place from every conceivable angle.
As I'm not a fan of Guy's overproduction, I wish they would turn back to simpler recording but I don't this is even possible in Mark's own studio because they have everything in this world. Everything, except time! So, given these extreme conditions, I reckon the next album will be Mark's best one, or at least as best as he is able to do at the moment, so I'd rather wait for as long as needed, even if it will be out in 2025.