presumably he'd at least like to
promote the album by doing interviews and such. Otherwise it'll just sink like a stone from public awareness. If he can't talk, it makes interviews harder, certainly for tv interviews. He can certainly do print interviews answering questions via email. I'd personally love if he'd do this anytime now, new album release or not. But I think he'd like to have something to talk about other than rehashing the whole FM sh*tshow. He would probably like to define himself by something other than that.
He's been working with a voice specialist so he may well have hopes of touring it at some point and wants to wait.
Kristen's gone fairly silent about him on social media as far as I know, but I've been knee-deep in work and haven't followed much of anything on social media the last couple months or so. Maybe someone else knows if she's made any comments.