The Hold Steady released their last album, Teeth Dreams, five years ago. Since then, the Brooklyn rockers have been casually dropping one-off tracks, like 2017’s “Entitlement Crew” and “A Snake In The Shower.” This year saw the stand-alone single “The Last Time That She Talked To Me,” as well as frontman Craig Finn’s solo album I Need A New War. And next month, the band will release their new full-length album.

Thrashing Thru The Passion comprises five brand new songs and five songs that the Hold Steady have already released on Bandcamp. We heard its charged-up lead single and album opener “Denver Haircut” last month. Today, they share “You Did Good Kid.”

The song thrives on contradiction. Rumination on daily drudgery and existential anxiety (“When your low serotonin’s got you brittle and glitchy”) is sandwiched between half-hearted affirmations (“You did good kid.”) Spiraling riffs lead to a buoyant brass section. It sounds like a harmonious panic attack.

The album title is taken from the line, “The drifters in the kitchen were thrashing thru the passion.” Even without having heard the full track list, it’s clear that this is a stand-out song.

“‘You Did Good Kid’ is the first song we worked on for this session, and remains a favorite,” Finn says in a statement. “It went though a few iterations before we came to this arrangement, and I’m really psyched on it. It feels great to play live.”

Listen to “You Did Good Kid” below.

TOUR DATES
08/15-17 – Seattle, WA @ The Crocodile (Aug 17 SOLD OUT)
08/22 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
08/23 – Chicago, IL @ Empty Bottle – SOLD OUT
08/24 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall – SOLD OUT
09/07 – Nashville, TN @ Basement East
09/12-15 – Boston, MA @ The Sinclair (Sept 13 & 14 SOLD OUT)
12/04-07 – Brooklyn, NY @ Brooklyn Bowl – (December 7 SOLD OUT)

Thrashing Thru The Passion is out 8/16. Pre-order it here.