To kick off the latest in the where-do-we-go-now fallout of digital music, Northern Ireland's Ash decided that their fifth album, 2007's Twilight Of The Innocents would be their last, but, interestingly, they weren't going to break up. They were going to do something different.

I guess you'd want to change things, too, if you recorded a debut a decade ago, just out of British high-school, and saw it go platinum, launching a career of some of the best and most playful, punk-inspired, and melodic songs of your generation, first becoming Britpop's Buzzcocks (1977), then dark exhaustion cinema (Nu-Clear Sounds), and then epic, shining sonic champions (Free All Angels), and absurd and somehow plausible comic-book metalheads (Meltdown).

What Ash have now decided to do is record singles. And only singles.

They've been upfront about why: all music is downloaded, the studio/LP/tour model has become boring, etc. "It hasn't helped that most people have forgotten how to make a decent album," Tim Wheeler, the band's lead, told the NME, "I'm constantly disappointed with records I buy. The future lies elsewhere and we can have a lot of fun by changing things up."

This September, they start the new plan, which is to release a single every other week for an entire year. It's sort of a 21st century update to what The Wedding Present did in the early '90s when they released one Top 30 single a month twelve times in a row. Ash, meanwhile, will put out a total of 26 singles in 52 weeks, all coming in random different formats like mp3s, CDs, vinyl, and videos, and is called, for now, their "A-Z Series".

The band uncaged a tease of a single this week in the form of a free song called "Return Of White Rabbit".

Shake it, shake it.

Definitely different, though! It's Hot Chip, really, but definitely not treading water like the last album. This is dance-oriented and full of sound — it's kind of chunky — and outshines its obvious influence with style and a bit of life.

Good one, Ash.

We didn't think we'd be eager to see where this'll take us.

Surprise!

[Download]