The new Five for Fighting album, Slice, is out today. I’ve had a copy for a few weeks — that’s one benefit of having written about John Ondrasik’s band for NR and NRO — so I’ve had an opportunity to give it a few listens and let it sink in. The title track is about the power of pop music to make you feel a part of something bigger than yourself. It’s kind of nostalgic, too, because it wonders about the erosion of common culture in a blog-driven world. Ondrasik longs for the creation of songs “that you could carry til the day you died.”

Will any of his new songs make the cut? So far, I like “Slice,” “Chances,” “Transfer,” and “The Story of Your Life.”

Two other songs merit a special mention. They are both sequels of sorts. The first is “Note to the Unknown Soldier.” It follows “Two Lights,” which, as I’ve written, is almost certainly the first pop song at least partly inspired by Victor Davis Hanson. The new tune is about the anonymity of today’s soldier — and a heartfelt appreciation for what they do and what they lose, plus a determination not to forget them.

The other is “Tuesday,” a reference to September 11. Five for Fighting is a post-9/11 phenomenon; Ondrasik owes much of his success to the way his song “Superman” resonated with the public after the terrorist attacks. Now, eight years later, he worries that Americans are slipping into a 9/10 mindset: “Is Monday coming back?/Well, that’s what Mondays do/They turn and turn around/Afraid to see it through.”

Maybe if enough people list to the new Five for Fighting record, “Tuesday” will sway hearts and minds — we’ll let its melody turn into a memory, rather than wish we’d heeded its warning when we still had time.