The audio: Singer-songwriter Feist offered up the musical equivalent of a breath of fresh air when her catchy earworm "1,2,3,4" debuted in 2007. The Grammy-nominated song went viral after it was featured in a commercial for the iPod Nano and adapted as a learning tool on Sesame Street. Stripped-down and unassuming, "1,2,3,4" was heralded as the antithesis to the overproduced pop hits of Rihanna, Fergie, and other pop divas. Yet following that breakout hit, Feist has been largely dormant... until now. The Canadian songstress' upcoming album Metals will be released October 4, and she just premiered its first single, "How Come You Never Go There." (Listen below.)

The reaction: "It ain't exactly a party-starter," says Jody Rosen at Rolling Stone, but the "bruising ballad" still manages to be riveting. Agreed, says James Montgomery at MTV. Even if this new song lacks the "pastel-colored sonics" of her bouncy hit "1,2,3,4," its "staggering guitars" and "smoking vocal harmonies" should please fans nonetheless. This "sultry piano ballad" only drums up anticipation for Metals' October release . Not quite, says Reed Fischer at the Broward-Palm Beach New Times. This tedious, anticlimactic song "sounds like music you'd put on after the last round of Scattergories is finished." The slow, quiet "How Come You Never Go There" is more likely to find success as "a moody promotion for a luxury car or perhaps Lindor Truffles" than a radio hit. Judge for yourself: