Jason Al-Taan

As Yeah Yeah Yeahs charge toward the release of a new album, the group has just released a new song called "Burning."

The scorching, Andrew Wyatt-produced track arrived Wednesday as the latest preview of their new record Cool It Down, which is out Sept. 30 via Secretly Canadian. Back in June, the band returned with the Perfume Genius-assisted "Spitting Off the Edge of the World," their first new music in nine years.

"Back when I was 19 living in the East Village, one night a roommate dragged me out of the apartment for an impromptu drink across the street," recalls Karen O. "I left a votive candle burning on a plastic yaffa block, which in my absence, set flame to my room. Within an hour and a half of having one drink down the block, firefighters had come and gone, extinguishing the fire."

She adds: "I came home to find that a natural disaster had occurred (to my room) and most of my stuff, lost in the flames. All electronic goods were melted and demolished, like my laptop, cameras, etc. But oddly enough, the items that held the most sentimental value remained intact—like sketchbooks, a favorite sweater with hearts across the chest, and photographs. I had photos of my parents in their youth where the fire burnt around the two of them as if there was some intangible force field protecting them, many photos like that, mysteriously leaving the beloved subjects untouched."

The singer continues: "If the world is on fire, I hope the most beloved stay protected and that we do all we can to protect what we cherish most in this life. ‘Burning’ is a song about that feeling, smoke signals for the soul. Begging to cool it down, just doing it the best we know how."

Hear it now.