Every artist ends up writing about cars at some point. Even The New Pornographers. The Vancouver indie-pop supergroup just announced that their upcoming eighth album will be titled In The Morse Code of Brake Lights, and will include songs with titles like Higher Beams, Leather on the Seat and You’ll Need a Backseat Driver. Coincidence? Well, kinda, according to frontperson and songwriter A.C. Newman, who also produced the Sept. 27 album.
“I was about two-thirds of the way through the record when I began to notice that lyrically so much of it was pointing toward car songs,” notes Newman. “The opening track is You’ll Need a Backseat Driver, and that was a metaphor that seemed to be running through other songs, too. Next to the love song, I feel like the car song is one of the most iconic kinds of songs in pop music, from Chuck Berry to the present. There was so much of that throughout it that I started thinking: ‘Oh, no, there’s too many references to cars on this record!’ And then I thought, ‘No, that’s good — people might think it’s a concept album.’”
Of course, they’re far from the only act announcing a new disc today. Check out all the new additions below — while you listen to the Pornos’ first single Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile below — and don’t forget to head over to the Upcoming Releases page to peruse the entire fall list.
August 16
Fletcher | You Ruined New York City For Me EP
Object Blue | Figure Beside Me EP
August 30
Rational Youth | Cold War Night Life Expanded Edition
September 6
5Rand | Dark Mother
Hirie | Dreamers
September 13
Cloudrat | Pollinator
Proc Fiskal | Skleekit Doss EP
Shasta Cuts | Configutarions
September 20
Academy Killer | Lost In Make Believe
Tove Lo | Sunshine Kitty
Selfish Things | Logos
September 27
All Eyes West | Like Lightning
Dayseeker | Sleeptalk
New Pornographers | In the Morse Code of Brake Lights
October 4
Helloween | United Alive
Helloween | United Alive in Madrid
October 11
Deportees | All Future
Lizanne Knott | Bones & Gravity
Violet Bell | Honey in My Heart
