The Shins are back with timely new single "The Great Divide"

The Shins have been pretty quiet since releasing The Worm's Heart, a "flipped" version of 2017's Heartworms, nearly three years ago and on Thursday (September 23) made their return with a timely new single, "The Great Divide."

Frontman James Mercer described the track as “a blend of futurism and nostalgia. We used everything from vintage synthesizers to iPhones, from a sixties Ludwig kit to an 808” in a statement.

“It’s an epic about longing and love in a broken world,” Mercer continued. “I guess we wanted to try to provide a bit of warmth and sentiment in hard times.”

Watch "The Great Divide" video above.

In true Shins style, the band also released a "flipped" version of the new song.

“When the Shins do a ‘flipped’ version of a song, the goal is always to re-approach the production aesthetic and show a different side to the piece," Mercer explained. "The idea is that a song properly written can be framed in many different contexts and still remain engaging. Yuuki Matthews, Jon Sortland and I sat down and talked about how we could change things up. The original idea was to treat it like a piano ballad but that soon gave way to Yuuki‘s moody post new wave treatment. I immediately loved it and so the direction was established. When we flip a song correctly you should have a hard time picking which version you like best!”

This article was first published on iheart.com and is republished here with permission