Craig Finn of the Hold Steady has shared the first track from his upcoming solo album – the intimate, if cryptic "Newmyer's Roof."

The song, restrained musically and featuring a sparse guitar solo on the order of Neil Young or Jeff Tweedy, is seeded with imagery both biblical and mundane. Finn sings: "No, I've never been crucified/ I've never suffered or died/ I've never been shot/ But I've been lied to a lot."

Finn says the song is related to the events of September 11, 2001 -- the album, titled Faith in the Future, will be released on September 11, 2015 -- even if it doesn't address the tragedy head on. "I was working at an office in Union Square and my friend and boss Chris Newmyer suggested we come to his apartment on 2nd Avenue in the East Village," Finn wrote in a note posted by NPR. "We could see the towers from the roof... We went up there and saw the towers burn and then collapse. At some point he suggested we get some beer. I didn't know what to feel that day, most of us had no emotion to access. So we got some beer and drank them while watching the World Trade Center go down. It sounds detached now, but at the time, it made sense on a day when nothing else made sense. I spent some years after that in darkness."

He also said the song, however, shouldn't be taken as literally about 9/11. "'Newmyer's Roof' isn't about this exactly. It's a song about believing that something better is coming. It's a song about light after darkness. It's about Faith in the Future."

The new song comes with a lyric video that features the song's lyrics written out on a type writer and scribbled on the back of a post card, augmented by shots of the new World Trade Center tower shining.

Faith in the Future is Finn's second solo record. He is taking pre-orders -- as well as donations that he will compensate via recording your voicemail, sending you handwritten lyrics, or playing concerts at your house -- at his PledgeMusic page.

Craig Finn -- "Newmyer's Roof" (Official Lyric Video)

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