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New MP3 from Menomena Side Project Lackthereof

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“I set out to make the most poppy album I could muster,” Menomena drummer Danny Seim tells SPIN.com of his solo project Lackthereof’s Barsuk Records debut, Your Anchor, set to arrive July 22. And with “Last November,” the first leak from the forthcoming set — his ninth as Lackthereof — Seim’s words are certainly validated.

With subtle, atmospheric keys, hushed bongos, and art-pop drums that meet pulsing, reggae-groove bass in a soft intro, “Last November” soon tops Seim’s aforementioned goals. “Going, going, going,” he sings repetitively in a huge, catchy chorus, before the tune gives way to keys and low vocals — and later a “Trucker Shift,” a trick Seim says is “where you take the repeated stanza up a half step into overdrive.”

“There are definitely some nautical themes present on this new record,” Seim continues. “I grew up in Wahiawa, Hawaii, where you’re ostracized as a kid if you don’t listen to reggae… So naturally I chose to listen to Stryper and got my ass kicked. Over a decade later though, it’s hard to ignore all of that sun-drenched stoner influence… If I had to pinpoint the inception of the sound I was trying to accomplish with this new record, it would probably be somewhere far out there in the Pacific.”

Now Hear This: “Last November” (DOWNLOAD MP3)