As previously reported, Bob Mould's new solo album, Silver Age, is due out in just under a month. It will be his first new release since signing to North Carolina indie label Merge Records this past spring, and comes on the heels of the label's reissue of his entire Sugar catalog.

The Current's Mary Lucia debuted the first track off the album, "The Descent," late last week, and if you missed that broadcast you can now stream the track online here:

After a contemplative few years mulling over his past in his memoir and exploring his softer side of songwriting on 2009's Life and Times, this new song is decidedly more aggressive and hearkens back to Mould's work in Sugar. When I interviewed him this year at SXSW, he said his new album was influenced by time spent playing with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl.

"I sort of got in that mood again, started writing some loud guitar rock again, and I think that experience, combined with the 20 year anniversary of [Sugar's] Copper Blue, is leading me to that sound again," he said.

The new record features Superchunk's Jon Wurster on drums and Telekinesis's Jason Narducy on bass, and both musicians will join Mould in concert for a run of album-release dates.

Mould and his band will return to his hometown of Minneapolis on September 15 to play a lengthy show at First Avenue. In addition to performing Copper Blue in its entirety, Mould will perform another set that mixes songs from Silver Age with some of his other best-known Hüsker Dü, Sugar, and solo material.