Vancouver-based indie rockers the New Pornographers will release their third album, Twin Cinema, on August 23rd. Fans will get a taste of new tunes, and a reworked lineup, on a mini-tour this month.
While the band enjoys a large arsenal of players — sometimes upwards of eight — the newest member has a familial connection: Kathryn Calder, who sings and plays piano, is also frontman A.C. Newman’s niece.
“Neko [Case] can’t make the June shows, so Kathryn’s going to be the girl,” Newman says. “So we’re going to be kind of like the Fiery Furnaces — the relatives band [laughs].”
The band will be debut a handful of Twin Cinema tracks on the tour. “I think it’s kind of cruel to give your audience an entire album’s worth of new songs before they’ve heard the album,” says Newman, “so we’ll do about six or seven.”
According to Newman, the new songs reflect the Pornographers’ desire to expand their sound. “I’ve always wanted to make a really epic, epic record,” he says, “the equivalent of some 1,000-page historical novel — but within the space of forty-five minutes.”
The album’s title is about a shift in perspective. “The whole Twin Cinema idea was about going through some upheaval in your life,” says Newman, “where all of a sudden your everyday life looks completely different to you because you’re seeing it through different eyes.”
After the record’s release, the band will hit the road for a more expansive tour featuring yet another lineup change: Dan Bejar, who records and writes with the group, will join the Pornographers live for the first time. His band, Destroyer, will also serve as the opening act.
Newman sighs, “Yeah, the fall tour is going to be a totally supercharged Pornographers lineup that will probably never exist again.”
New Pornographers tour dates:
6/22: Hoboken, NJ, Maxwell’s
6/23: Hoboken, NJ, Maxwell’s
6/24: Lancaster, PA, Chameleon Club
6/25: Brooklyn, NY, Prospect Park Celebrate Brooklyn
6/26: Northampton, MA, Pearl Street
9/23: Vancouver, Commodore Ballroom
9/27: San Francisco, Bimbo’s 365 Club
9/28: San Francisco, Bimbo’s 365 Club
9/29: Los Angeles, Henry Fonda Theater
10/07: Newport, KY, Southgate House
10/08: Kalamazoo, MI, Club Soda
10/11: Boston, The Roxy
10/20: Chicago, Metro
Source rollingstone.com.