The New Pornographers Return With New Single “Really Really Light”; Announce Upcoming Album & Tour Dates

Canadian power-pop veterans The New Pornographers have announced their ninth studio album Continue As A Guest, set for release March 31st via Merge Records. Leading the news is the band’s latest single and video “Really Really Light”, directed by Christian Cerezo.

Co-written by Destroyer (Dan Bejar), “Really Really Light” originated during the writing process of the band’s 2014 album Brill Bruisers. Finding a new purpose and shape, the song holds onto the collective’s bright and catchy songwriting style.

Band leader A.C Newman shares: “Part of my process throughout the years has been messing with things I never finished. I really liked Dan’s chorus, and for a while I was just trying to write something that I felt like belonged with it. I was thinking of the Aloe Blacc song ‘The Man’ which interpolated the chorus from Elton John’s ‘Your Song’ and thought it would be fun to interpolate a song that no one knows. Not trying to sound like Aloe Blacc, just doing some interpolating of my own. It became a game of writing a verse that felt like a part of the same song. In my mind, I was striving for a little Jeff Lynne–era Tom Petty, a classic go-to.”

As for the rest of the album, the music explores topics of isolation and living on the internet. But Newman says that Continue as a Guest’s title track also addresses the continually rolling concerns that come with being in a band for so long. “The idea of continuing as a guest felt very apropos to the times,” he explains. “Feeling out of place in culture, in society—not feeling like a part of any zeitgeist, but happy to be separate and living your simple life, your long fade-out. Find your own little nowhere, find some space to fall apart, continue as a guest.”

Check out the accompanying garage-figure-skating music video below, and catch the band on tour this year (dates just past).

TOUR DATES

April 19—Asheville, NC—Salvage Station*

April 20—Atlanta, GA—Variety Playhouse*

April 21—New Orleans, LA—Tipitina’s*

April 22—Houston, TX—White Oak Music Hall*

April 23—Dallas, TX—Studio at The Factory*

April 25—Austin, TX—Paramount*

April 26—Oklahoma City, OK—Tower Theatre*

April 27—St. Louis, MO—Sheldon Concert Hall*

April 28—Omaha, NE—The Waiting Room*

April 29—Kansas City, MO—The Truman*

April 30—Denver, CO—Gothic Theatre*

May 3—St. Paul, MN—The Fitzgerald*

May 4—Milwaukee, WI—Turner Hall*

May 5—Chicago, IL—Thalia Hall*

May 6—Chicago, IL— Thalia Hall*

May 8—Cincinnati, OH—Memorial Hall*

May 9—Columbus, OH—Newport Music Hall*

May 11—Detroit, MI—El Club*

May 12—Toronto, ON—Danforth*

May 13—Burlington, VT—Higher Ground Ballroom*

May 14—Norwalk, CT— Wall Street Theater*

May 15—Boston, MA—Royale*

May 17—New York, NY—Brooklyn Steel*

May 18—Philadelphia, PA—Union Transfer*

May 19—Washington, DC—9:30 Club*

May 21—Saxapahaw, NC—Haw River Ballroom*

*with Wild Pink