The Former Site Of

The New Pornographers — 2026

“Calm, careful, and restrained, The Former Site Of trades old hooks for slow-burning depth.”

It is hard to believe that The New Pornographers are now in a veteran indie supergroup status. It just seems like it was 1999 when frontman A.C. Newman pulled together Neko Case, Dan Bejar, and a rotating cast of collaborators to make what became one of the great power pop records of that era, Mass Romantic. Present day finds the big, sugary hooks that once defined them a thing of early years as Continue as a Guest arrived in 2023 with the band moved into a different gear altogether. The Former Site Of, their tenth studio album, arrives with that same smoldering song development. The songs sit with you longer here but this entire record is calm, careful, and intently focused.

If you come in expecting the candy coated indie pop of Twin Cinema or Challengers, this record will throw you. Synthesizers now drive the songs rather than just adding accents and hooks. “Pure Sticker Shock” lands close to pure synthpop, and so do “Wine Remembers the Water” and “Bonus Mai Tais.” There’s pedal steel on “Ballad of the Last Payphone,” saxophone on the title track, and space throughout that earlier New Pornographers records never would have allowed. I think the word for this record is restrained. Whether that’s good or bad depends entirely on what you want from them. The harmonies still hold strong.

Hints of this change started appearing all the way back on 2019’s In the Morse Code of Brake Lights, and the new approach really locked in with Continue as a Guest in 2023. This record sounds more like a Newman solo project than any previous New Pornographers album. With Dan Bejar gone for several albums now, and Case and Calder taking fewer lead vocals than usual, Newman steps up. I think that’s both its strength and its limitation. When it works, the focus pays off. When it doesn’t, you notice the missing pieces.

This era of The New Pornographers sits in a lane somewhere near the quieter side of Spoon, the synth forward work of The National, or even late period Shins. There’s also something in here that reminds me of Destroyer, which is funny given that Dan Bejar is no longer part of the picture. Fans of Nada Surf’s more contemplative records or even some of Ron Sexsmith’s work will like this album as well.

“Votive” is the album’s most immediate track. Built around an insistent mandolin riff, when it kicks into gear it delivers a real rush, and feels like one of the few moments where the old energy surfaces, and it lands hard because of that contrast. “Spooky Action” has a strong guitar presence and is built around the story of the Cassini-Huygens satellite that orbited Saturn for 13 years before diving into the planet and destroying itself. “Wish You Could See Me I’m Killing It” is a standout. It reads like a grown up confessional, with Newman’s protagonist laying flowers at his parents’ graves and updating them on his life. It really is a connecting song if you are a similar age as the band and have been with them from the beginning.

Newman has always written lyrics that prioritize feel over clear meaning. On The Former Site Of, that approach has shifted as everything here feels more pointed. “Pure Sticker Shock” is about self worth and the gap between how the market values you and how you actually value yourself. “Bonus Mai Tais” is reportedly about meeting a friend with advanced cancer for drinks, and the weight of that sits in the music even if the words stay at a distance. This is a New Pornographers record where I would say the lyrics are driving the song structures.

The Former Site Of is not the New Pornographers record that longtime fans have been waiting for. It lacks the punchy anthems of earlier records, but I think dismissing it would be a mistake. What Newman and the remaining band have built here is honest, carefully made, and worth sitting with. The album rewards patience more than it rewards nostalgia. There are so many micro moments that just sound great. Especially if you throw on some headphones. Whether the band continues to push in this direction or finds a way to split the difference between old and new will be interesting to watch. Either way, I hope they are not done yet.