Best-of lists for 2007 are being compiled/posted all over the place, but I’m already looking forward to a 2008 release with some anticipation: the Radar Bros.’ Auditorium, due out Jan. 29 on Merge Records.

NPR debuted the lead single, Lake Life, on its All Songs Considered page. (Scroll down to find the stream.)

The DJ correctly calls the Radar Bros.’ style a throwback to early 1970s Pink Floyd – a “dreamy, folk sound.” Lake Life (not Pomona as NPR labeled the track) doesn’t stray far from that brand. Like most everything the Radar Bros. have done, Lake Life coasts gently on a hypnotizing guitar line and a swing-like slow-motion drum rhythm, following my belief that the best way to describe the band’s deliberate pacing is to imagine the tempo running underwater.

That said, frontman Jim Putnam does seem slightly taken with the concept of water – living on and/or near it or simply observing its mesmerizing nature (past songs include: Rock of the Lake, The River Shade and Underwater Culprits). Coupled with the band’s hazy aura, Putnam’s lyrics often sound like an idealistic vision of the simple life. On Lake Life, he sings: “Long is the day now / just swim while I lay / if I could only have you / my beautiful lake life now.”

Listen to Lake Life here.

Auditorium tracklisting:
When Cold Air Goes To Sleep
Warm Rising Sun
Happy Spirits
Hearts Of Crows
On Nautilus
Hills Of Stone
Lake Life
Watching Cows
Pomona
A Dog Named Ohio
Brother Rabbit
Morning Bird