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See the Hold Steady Let ‘Spinners’ Loose on ‘Letterman’

the hold steady, spinners, teeth dreams, late show with david letterman

The Hold Steady return today (March 25) with their sixth album, Teeth Dreams, an effort that finds frontman Craig Finn focused more on the pits of middle-age and less on the highs of killer parties. As SPIN’s Jason Gubbels wrote in his review, “These aren’t bad vibes you shake off with a make-out session inside the chillout tent: Finn’s considering the despair that comes from dead-end jobs and decades of hard living, recreational depressants very much included.”

Still, the follow-up to 2010’s underwhelming Heaven Is Whenever isn’t without its bright spots. Enter “Spinners,” the new LP’s pick-me-up single, which the Hold Steady performed on the Late Show With David Letterman on Monday night. Sure, Finn sings about “flat champagne and inbound trains,” and a lead female character who’s “Got him where she wants him / But she can’t decide if she wants him” (subtext: it doesn’t matter who the “him” is), but the typically cinematic track comes with a silver lining. “Heartbreak hurts but you can dance it off,” Finn points out, later noting, “Once you’re out there / Everything is possible.”

Watch the performance — which, of course, counters its quiet verses with a showy guitar solo coda — above. Be sure to read SPIN’s review of Teeth Dreams, and check out the album’s opening track, “I Hope This Whole Thing Didn’t Frighten You.”