EP of the Week: Foo Fighters rock out for Paris on 'Saint Cecilia'

The Foo Fighters' new Saint Cecilia EP, released as a surprise free download on Monday, has been months in the making, taking its name from Austin's Hotel Saint Cecilia where the band recorded the collection of loose, back-to-basics tracks.

But the shootings at Paris' Bataclan music venue earlier this month, during a concert with the Foo Fighters' colleagues Eagles of Death Metal, gave the EP a renewed vitality to frontman Dave Grohl in the face of unspeakable tragedy.

"Now, there is a new, hopeful intention that, even in the smallest way, perhaps these songs can bring a little light into this sometimes dark world," Grohl wrote in a letter, dedicating the EP to the victims of the attacks. It's a worthy cause -- and Saint Cecilia's thrilling  "sonic scrapbook" is the band's finest work in years.

Stream the EP below: