Yeasayer have debuted a brand new track titled “Henrietta”, scroll down to the bottom of the page and click to listen to it.

The track was sent out to members of the band’s mailing list, with a physical CD containing the song sent to every person who had signed up to updates from Yeasayer.

“Henrietta” is the first new material to emerge from the band since their 2010 second album Odd Blood and its announcement was accompanied by a brief tweet from the band, which said: “Yes, record number three is in the works! Keeping it brief because it should be.”

Speaking previously about “Henrietta”, the band’s singer and keyboardist Chris Keating had said that the song was inspired by Henrietta Lacks, a Baltimore woman who had a rare form of cancer which meant her tumours and cells continued to grow after she died in 1951.

He explained: “Her tumors were somehow used in the polio vaccine, too, so basically this woman’s cells still exist. It’s an interesting story. So we turned it into a dubbed-out pseudo-science-fiction song.”

Late last year, the band spoke about their new album and said that it is shaping up to be “like a demented R&B record.”

Keating said of it: “It’s like an Aaliyah album if you played it backwards and slowed it down. Or David Bowie‘s ‘Lodger’. Those two are major influences.”

Photo credit: Guy Aroch