The Former Site Of - The New Pornographers

It’s been a while since we’ve heard from The New Pornographers, and The Former Site Of arrives under circumstances that are, to put it gently, complicated. Drummer Joe Seiders was arrested on deeply disturbing charges shortly after recording, and the band immediately severed ties, erased his tracks entirely, and brought in session drummer Charley Drayton to redo everything. That Drayton is best known for recording “Love Shack” with the B-52s is either ironic or fitting, depending on your disposition. Newman has called the whole experience “dark, weird, and confusing.” Hard to argue with that.

What’s remarkable is that the album itself doesn’t feel dark or chaotic. It feels very much like a New Pornographers album if a bit more subdued than usual. Newman reportedly wrote it as ten short stories, each centered on a character pushed to some kind of personal or social extreme. That conceit doesn’t announce itself loudly — you have to lean in to catch it — but it gives the record a subtle coherence that their recent work sometimes lacked.

This is a quieter New Pornographers than we’re used to. The big melodic flourishes of Mass Romantic or Electric Version are largely absent. In their place is something more introspective, a little muted, what one reviewer aptly called burning “several degrees cooler than its glimmering exterior.” The layered vocals from Newman, Neko Case, and Kathryn Calder are still very much present and gorgeous as ever. But the arrangements feel more restrained, but the harmonies are there.

Lead single “Votive” eases you in nicely — atmospheric and measured, with that signature harmonic density that makes the New Pornographers unmistakably themselves. “Pure Sticker Shock” picks up the tempo a bit and reminds you they can still write a hook. “Spooky Action” is the one that keeps replaying in my head, which is either because it’s the best track or because the title is irresistible to someone who teaches physics-adjacent topics. Possibly both.

“Ballad of the Last Payphone” is a standout for different reasons — elegiac and a little funny in the way only Newman can pull off. The payphone as metaphor for things that persist past their usefulness. Draw your own conclusions.

Cover art deserves a mention: the title and band name are arranged so it reads “The Former Site Of The New Pornographers,” which is either a wry joke about legacy or a gentle act of self-erasure. Given everything that happened during recording, it lands differently than it probably was intended to.

This is not the album to start with if you’re new to the band. Start with Mass Romantic or Twin Cinema and work your way here. But if you’ve been along for the ride, The Former Site Of is a worthy addition — thoughtful, well-crafted, and resilient in a way that feels earned.