New Order today announced that it has reached a “full and final settlement” to end the band’s long-running legal disputes with its former bassist Peter Hook over the ongoing royalties Hook has received since 2011 and his own use of “various New Order and Joy Division assets.” Read New Order’s full statement.

The members of New Order have been talking up new music since reuniting a few years ago, and the prospect of a new album became that much more real this past September when the band signed to the legendary Mute label and it was announced the group soon would return to the studio to work on new music.

The U.K.’s Barnaby Festival wrapped up Sunday night with The Charlatans’ Tim Burgess and friends playing in a church, concluding with Burgess bringing Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert onstage to perform nearly-unplugged versions of “Love Vigilantes,” “Love Will Tear Us Apart” and “World in Motion.”

New Order, which began making noise about recording new music not long into its current reunion, finally treated fans to some of that work this past weekend during the band’s slot at Lollapalooza Chile, debuting a new 6-minute number that bears the working title of “Drop the Guitar,”

Last summer, the members of New Order — Bernard Sumner, Stephen Morris and Gillian Gilbert, as well as former bassist Peter Hook — and sleeve designer Peter Saville were interviewed by Swedish National Television for a 30-minute documentary on the story behind their iconic 1983 single “Blue Monday.”

New Order will mark its highly successful reunion with the release this summer of a new 13-track live album recorded at the U.K.’s Bestival last September, according to the NME. Live at Bestival 2012 will be released July 8 in the U.K. via CD and download, with all profits going to the Isle of Wight Youth Trust.

Bernard Sumner previously has hinted that New Order — which reunited last year without bassist Peter Hook — may write new music, but now he’s talking about it in detail for the first time, telling interviewers that the band will meet early next year to begin writing new material with an eye on making an ‘electronic synth album.’