ALT-ROCK POSTER CHILD Spoon is readying to hit the studio this summer, and frontman Britt Daniel has already started penning tunes. But that's not before the band wraps up the last leg of its tour in support of "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga," its critically acclaimed 2007 release. This includes a sold-out Atlanta stop with the Walkmen and White Rabbits.

As Spoon steps into the soundproof booth, the Walkmen are strolling out.

Autumn De Wilde (ENLARGE)
Spoon will have a sold-out show Monday night at Center Stage, with up-and-coming indie act the Walkmen also on the bill.
(ENLARGE)
The Walkmen road test new tunes in Atlanta as an opening act for Spoon.
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The popular indie act will release its next disc in August, which promises to be more grand than garage.

Walkmen frontman Hamilton Leithauser filled us in during a recent phone chat.

Describe the new album.

It's very different from the last one. It's just a product of a lot more work and time spent. We've been working on it for two years and wrote 20-something songs. I think we've come a long way in terms of playing together. There's less hard-hitting rock, and we have a lot of strings, horns and stuff like that. ... We were listening to a lot of Roy Orbison when we were writing the songs. So we were going after that big production sound. Our last record was sort of stripped down.

How is the Spoon tour?

It's nice to play with Spoon, because you're in front of a big crowd, and you get to play for a lot of people who haven't heard you before. And you can play new stuff, which is always so much more fun for us.

The band was on "The O.C." If you had to play another TV show, which would it be?

"The Wire." But it's over now. We're big fans. For years, people were telling me to watch it, but I've never cared about serial shows very much. ... But it's this unbelievable show about Baltimore. ... It's my favorite. It's just so realistic and so believable. And the writing is great. ... Everybody in the band loves it. We just hang on every episode.

• THE 411: Sold out. 7 p.m. April 14. Center Stage, 1374 W. Peachtree St., Atlanta. 404-249-6400, www.ticketmaster.com.