LABEL:Merge Records
RELEASE DATE: 03/27/2026
VARIANT: Black Vinyl LP

A woman is trapped on a cruise ship. A preacher decides to go down with his town. A man at the florist finds himself lost in the meaning of the arrangement. These and other people at personal and societal extremes are the subjects of ten timely, timeless short stories collected as meticulously crafted pop songs by The New Pornographers on their forthcoming album, The Former Site Of, out March 27 on Merge Records. The album, like Continue as a Guest, finds The New Pornographersbandleader A.C. Newman, Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, John Collins, and Todd Fanceyexpanding their already rich catalog in surprising fashion. Joined for this album by legendary session drummer Charley Drayton (Divinyls, The Cult, The Rolling Stones, Fiona Apple), the space contained in a New Pornographers song has never been this clearly articulated or generously textured, giving a distinct pulse to the characters whose lives spill out in Newmans tender, evocative lyrics. The Former Site Of adds new depth to the sound Newman shook loose through building and recording in a home studio, fine-tuning the bands creative process far beyond the lockdown-era necessities of remote collaboration. Having time in my studio really opened things up, he explains. I dont like wasting my bandmates time, and always felt guilty when Id give them a song, ask them to do something, then completely change the song and ask them to do it again. Now I can get the skeleton of a song together firstjust a couple of elements, the key feeling, really as little as possiblebefore bringing it to the band and running from there. Two albums into this shift, The New Pornographers are creating universes of intricately textured sound and narrative detail, every layer keyed to reveal an unexpected new facet. As on Continue as a Guest, one of the more readily apparent layers is the way a song forms itself around a featured instrument. On The Former Site Of, its a mandolin which, in Carl Newmans hands, lends lead single Votive its sense of acceleration as it builds from the atmospheric sweep of its synth and keyboard opening to a classic, wide-open jam. Hands are cupped around a match / Im just trying to keep the lights on, Newman sings on the track, the metaphorhanging on despite the precarity of lifea thread that weaves through The Former Site Of. Bonus Mai Tais is, in a sense, about the flame going out, Newman writing directly of meeting a friend with advanced cancer for drinks, disarmed by their candor in the face of death. It is a brutally sad song, the anguish of the moment hanging in Newmans voice, and one of the bands most beautiful, with Neko Cases and Kathryn Calders harmonies acting as the scenes ethereal mirror. The Former Site Of places many of its subjects on the edge of obliviontheir time growing short, their situation doomedbut hanging on. This is also true when The New Pornographers turn their focus inward as they do on Pure Sticker Shock, Newmans lyrics grappling with self-worth. That they can identify themselves among such a disparate casteven the Cassini-Huygens satellite of Spooky Actionties the album together before the final repeated lyric of its title track, the way into the heart of each of these songs warmly lit and inviting. Far from being the expected next chapter from The New Pornographers, The Former Site Of is an argument against expectation by a band that continues to evolve rather than rest on their laurels. Even in its darkest or most self-deprecating moments, there is an effervescence to the music here that is irresistible, an affirmation that the struggle of its characters and the listener, like a photograph of a distant planet, is worth it.