Listen: New Spoon single 'Written in Reverse'

Spoon

Credit: Merge

As promised, Spoon has delivered it's first single, "Written in Reverse," today, which can be purchased already on iTunes.

NPR got the exclusive in the stream, click hear to listen to it.

The track kicks off with nasty chords on a piano, which dot ominously throughout this angular, minimalist mid-tempo rocker.

"I'm writing this one to you in reverse," sings Britt Daniel (which he then rhymes with hearse and worse), before launching into a gutteral wail that takes us to a falsetto chorus, same note, same key. Daniel told me once in an interview that the lyrics were always the hardest part of the equation, but here you barely even notice them in the weird, wirey ferocity of his voice. (Although, no, I don't know what "high school poppers" are either.)

I particularly love, too, the guitar non-solo -- this thing goes nowhere, and I like it! -- which bumbles into a fake-out ending, and the cute bits of laughter at the end.

Spoon's "Transference" is due Jan. 19. The group has firmed up some North American tour date, too, below:

12/03/09 - Kansas City, MO - Midland Theatre
12/04/09 - Boston, MA - Orpheum Theatre
12/11/09 - Portland, OR - Crystal Ballroom
12/12/09 - La Jolla, CA - RIMAC Arena
12/31/09 - Milwaukee, WI - Riverside Theater