`The Former Site Of` is the tenth studio album by Canadian indie rockers The New Pornographers who are a core of A.C.Newman, Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, John Collins, and Todd Fancey with drummer Charley Drayton adding his talents to this current release.
`Great Princess Story` leads us in with a strummed mandolin with its surreal lyrics seemingly about a doomed ship. There`s some enticing harmonies along with an occasional ponding drumbeat and a meandering understated guitar riff that takes us by the hand and guides us through this rhythmic opening number. We have in `Pure Sticker Shock` a track about grappling with self-worth. It has a dreamy deep synth and drum resonance with shared vocals that are almost bellowed out at times.
`Ballad of the Last Payphone` is a bittersweet reflection on the fascination with an obsolete object, the last payphone in New York City, now residing in a museum. An echo maybe about how life changes and a totally absorbing listen. There`s a similar glistening contemplation with `Spooky Action` which I read is about the Cassini-Huygens satellite, which orbited Saturn for years before crashing itself into the planet’s surface.
`Wish You Could See Me I’m Killing It` has a kind of ghostly ambience and may be about the grief of losing somebody romantically or physically but has enough ambiguity that it may well be about something entirely different. The captivating `Votive` begins tenderly before it bursts into life and races off. I read a kind of religious or spiritual significance as a votive is usually an object offered in fulfilment of a vow, such as a candle used as a vigil light.
`Wine Remembers the Water` runs at just under two minutes in length but packs so much into its short existence with a pulsing beat allowing some almost philosophical musings to be shared. When i see the title of `Calligraphy` I associate it with decorate handwriting or handwritten lettering produced with a pen or brush but this illusive listen may well have some sort of metaphorical slant on the power of the written word.
There`s a real shimmer to `Bonus Mai Tais` where singer songwriter Carl Newman writes about meeting a friend with advanced cancer for drinks, disarmed by their frankness in the face of death. An illusory tune that addresses mortality in a subtle but sympathetic way. The final piece is the title track `The Former Site Of` which sparkles and glitters and is perhaps a reflection on society with some encouraging and optimistic sentiments offered.
`The Former Site Of` is crammed full of delicately and captivatingly crafted pop songs which are beautifully and articulately shared over some of the most enticing and complementing accompanying music .
I don`t know what it is about Canada but having seen both The Besnard Lakes and The Dears recently, this country, containing ten provinces and three territories are creating and producing some of the most amazing music currently available.
Rating 9/10
