{"product_id":"the-new-pornographers-the-former-site-of-the-new-pornographers-12","title":"The New Pornographers: The Former Site of The New Pornographers 12\"","description":"\u003cdiv class=\"col-md-12 col-sm-12 col-12\" id=\"aec-product-description\"\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"aec-desc-review collapse\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003eA 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.\u003c\/p\u003e\r\nThe album, like Continue as a Guest, finds The New Pornographers-bandleader A.C. Newman, Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, John Collins, and Todd Fancey-expanding their already rich catalog in surprising fashion. Joined by legendary session drummer Charley Drayton (Divinyls, Keith Richards, 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 Newman's tender, evocative lyrics.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThe Former Site Of adds new depth to the sound Newman shook loose through building and recording in a home studio, fine-tuning the band's creative process far beyond the lockdown-era necessities of remote collaboration. \"Having time in my studio really opened things up,\" he explains. \"I can get the skeleton of a song together first-just a couple of elements, the key feeling, really as little as possible-before bringing it to the band and running from there.\"\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eTwo 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, it's a mandolin which, in Carl Newman's hands, lends lead single \"Votive\" it's sense of acceleration as it builds from the atmospheric sweep of it's synth and keyboard opening to a classic, wide-open jam.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\"Hands are cupped around a match \/ I'm just trying to keep the lights on,\" Newman sings on the track, the metaphor-hanging on despite the precarity of life-a 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 Newman's voice, and one of the band's most beautiful, with Neko Case's and Kathryn Calder's harmonies acting as the scene's ethereal mirror.\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThe Former Site Of places many of it's subjects on the edge of oblivion-their time growing short, their situation doomed-but hanging on. This is also true when The New Pornographers turn their focus inward as they do on \"Pure Sticker Shock,\" Newman's lyrics grappling with self-worth. That they can identify themselves among such a disparate cast-even the Cassini-Huygens satellite of \"Spooky Action\"-ties the album together before the final repeated lyric of it's 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 it's darkest or most self-deprecating moments, there is an effervescence to the music here that is irresistible, an affirmation that the struggle of it's characters and the listener, like a photograph of a distant planet, is worth it.\u003c\/div\u003e\r\n\u003c\/div\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"ui-tabs ui-corner-all ui-widget ui-widget-content\" id=\"aec-musictabs\"\u003e\r\n\u003cul class=\"ui-tabs-nav ui-corner-all ui-helper-reset ui-helper-clearfix ui-widget-header\" role=\"tablist\"\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli aria-controls=\"mt-1\" aria-expanded=\"true\" aria-labelledby=\"MusicTracks\" aria-selected=\"true\" class=\"ui-tabs-tab ui-corner-top ui-state-default ui-tab ui-tabs-active ui-state-active\" role=\"tab\" style=\"font-weight: bold;\" tabindex=\"0\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eTracks:\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cdiv aria-hidden=\"false\" aria-labelledby=\"MusicTracks\" class=\"ui-tabs-panel ui-corner-bottom ui-widget-content\" id=\"mt-1\" role=\"tabpanel\"\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"tracksonly\" id=\"aec-jukebox\"\u003e\r\n\u003cdiv class=\"jp-playlist tracksonly\"\u003e\r\n\u003cul\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e1\u003c\/span\u003e Great Princess Story\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e2\u003c\/span\u003e Pure Sticker Shock\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e3\u003c\/span\u003e Ballad of the Last Payphone\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e4\u003c\/span\u003e Spooky Action\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e5\u003c\/span\u003e Wish You Could See Me I'm Killing It\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e6\u003c\/span\u003e Votive\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e7\u003c\/span\u003e Wine Remembers the Water\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e8\u003c\/span\u003e Calligraphy\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e9\u003c\/span\u003e Bonus Mai Tais\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\t\u003cli\u003e\n\u003cspan class=\"aec-tracknum\"\u003e10\u003c\/span\u003e The Former Site of\u003c\/li\u003e\r\n\u003c\/ul\u003e\r\n\u003c\/div\u003e\r\n\u003c\/div\u003e\r\n\u003c\/div\u003e\r\n\u003c\/div\u003e\r\n\u003cul\u003e\u003cli\u003eFormat Type: 12\"\u003c\/li\u003e\u003c\/ul\u003e","brand":"Merge Records","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47996778021118,"sku":"260325702","price":30.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0255\/7539\/files\/the-new-pornographers-the-former-site-of-the-new-pornographers-12_U3urF.jpg?v=1774475677","url":"https:\/\/www.sorrystaterecords.com\/products\/the-new-pornographers-the-former-site-of-the-new-pornographers-12","provider":"Sorry State Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}