Surprise! Wilco have updated their website with a free download of their unannounced ninth studio album, Star Wars. The 11-track album features all new material and is available for a limited time. The album is expected to have a physical release in August, with a vinyl edition to follow.

Frontman Jeff Tweedy elaborates on the surprise digital release: "Why release an album this way and why make it free? Well, the biggest reason, and I'm not sure we even need any others, is that it felt like it would be fun. What's more fun than a surprise?”

Star Wars follows 2014's compilation album Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rare Tracks 1994-2014. Their previous studio release, The Whole Love, came out in 2011. Tweedy and son Spencer released an album last year entitled Sukierae.

While signing up for a free download of Star Wars, Wilco fans can enjoy watching an animated version of the album art's kitty batting its eyelashes at them.

Track list

1. EKG

2. More…

3. Random Name Generator

4. The Joke Explained

5. You Satellite

6. Taste the Ceiling

7. Pickled Ginger

8. Where Do I Begin

9. Cold Slope

10. King of You

11. Magnetized

Wilco headline Pitchfork Music Festival in their hometown of Chicago this Friday, July 16.

If you've downloaded the album, let us know what you think of it in the comments below.