When was the last time you heard the name, The New Pornographers? For me it’s been years. I honestly thought they were a defunct band that fell apart in the mid 2000’s but they still make music! And if you have no idea who they are, or what I’m talking about, let me fill you in.

The New Pornographers, are not new anymore, they’re coming up on 30 years of making music. Just next year actually! But they formed in 1997, in Vancouver as a spinoff of, Destroyer, The Evaporators, Superconductor, Zumpano, Maow, The Corn Sisters, Cub, and Thee Crusaders. I have to be completely honest with you, I only know Cub. But the New Pornographers are beyond their makeup, they’re great, and they’ve stood the test of time.

They have this almost jangly quality to some of their older stuff, like Mass Romantic, off the album of the same name. But it rocks, its way happier than a lot of alt bands without becoming overly cheery or syrupy. And they still have some of that y’know sadness built in. On a song like The Bleeding Heart Show, which is not surprising, nothing with bleeding heart in the title has ever been anything close to cheery. But what I want to talk about, and the reason for bringing them up, is that they released a new album this year.

Back in march, The Former Site Of released and it’s a shift from what I was telling you about before. It’s almost folk-y in its execution, like a mature version of what they’ve been doing. It’s really cool. There’s a song on there, its called Votive. It’s kind of like a celestial Gordon Lightfoot, if you get what I mean. It feels like you’re floating in space as you listen, but its got a grounding quality. Like walking in Australia, barely hanging on to gravity. I think. They use harnesses down there right?

Anywho, There’s something about Canadian bands that just age well, especially ones from BC, and the New Pornographers are no exception. They keep things fresh, without forgetting who they are and how they got there.