Hey, another pair of new Hold Steady songs! The Brooklyn-based, Minnesota-inspired rockers have been kicking out singles a couple at a time in recent months, starting with “Entitlement Crew” and “A Snake In The Shower” last November and continuing with “Eureka” and “Esther” back in May. Those sets arrived ahead of Hold Steady residencies in Brooklyn and London respectively. Now, with their Constructive Summer gigs commemorating the 10-year anniversary of Stay Positive launching next week in Jersey City, they’ve given us another two tracks.

These latest numbers are called “The Stove & The Toaster” and “Star 18.” On the former, Craig Finn’s nasal narration is buoyed by a brass section; there’s also a rad and unexpected detour in the middle. The latter is powered by an organ straight out of early Elvis Costello. Both are classic Hold Steady rockers that have me eager to see this band live again soon.

A note from the band on Bandcamp:

Hey Everyone!

We are thrilled to be kicking off Constructive Summer with shows in Jersey City, Philly, Asbury Park and San Francisco coming up. To help celebrate, we thought we’d share some new music. Please enjoy our new songs “The Stove & The Toaster” and “Star 18”. We’ll be playing them at the shows, in case you want to sing along.

These songs were recorded in May at Isokon Studios with Josh Kaufman producing and Dan Goodwin engineering. Stuart Bogie and Dave Nelson added some horns and Annie Nero helped with some backup vox. We are very pleased with the results and hope you are too.

These will be available for the fans here on Bandcamp, and will be on all digital services via Frenchkiss on Friday, July 20.

If you choose to download these two songs, a donation will be made to benefit the K+L Guardian Foundation. ALL monies received from downloads will be transferred to the K+L Guardian Foundation.

The K+L Guardian Foundation was formed to benefit “Jersey” Mike Van Jura’s children after he suddenly passed away in November 2012 at only 36 years of age. Jersey Mike was the unofficial leader of The Unified Scene.

Looking forward to Constructive Summer. Limited tickets still available for select shows! www.theholdsteady.net#shows

See you soon! Stay Positive!

The Hold Steady

Listen below.

So are they going to just keep releasing songs in this format until they have enough for a singles collection á la Les Savy Fav’s Inches? Given the quality of these new songs, I’d be very down for that.