The New Pornographers latest album, Challengers, will officially be out on August 21st. Of course, such release dates have become rather inconsequential. As early as late May, the Pornographers’ newly-branded “power folk” had appeared online in the form of “My Rights Versus Yours.” At present, most of the album’s dozen tracks can already be found scattered amongst various MP3 blogs. More diligent internet excavators can unearth the album in its entirety.


This, in itself, doesn’t bother me. Yes, even a curmudgeony traditionalist like me has come to accept that albums – like condos, cauldrons and abstractions – will leak. Here’s what really gets on my tits: People are laying their grimy paws on this stuff before me. It seems I’m constantly cast as the wallflower left to wonder: “How come everyone’s had a go with Okkervil River’s The Stage Names except for me?” When I’m finally afforded the opportunity to pass judgement on such material, it’s already been debated and assessed to tatters.


Tired of sloppy aural seconds, I’ve finally determined a way of combating this conundrum: I’ve dredged up four highly-anticipated upcoming albums that have only revealed themselves to the depths of my imagination. As they say in the old country: The blogosphere can’t beat you to the punch if you jump it from behind, land a couple of lucky shots and then flee into the shadows of a nearby alleyway.


Destroyer – Seven Stations


This opus evidences that Dan Bejar’s subtext-heavy, serrated poetry hasn’t dulled in the slightest. Amidst the sixteen swirling minutes of “The Crowd Pleaser Files His Resignation,” the acerbic songwriter addresses no less than six women by name, namedrops previous albums Rubies and Thief and reworks a Soft Boys’ lyric: “I wanna destroy you/But I don’t even know where to begin.” Utterly genius.


Sufjan Stevens – Delaware


Despite being “The Diamond State,” Delaware initially seems a strange muse for Stevens and his ongoing Fifty States Project. However, a single listen to the ornate “The Timely Intervention of Lord De La Warr” or the cascading “The Green of Dover” allays any concerns. Elsewhere, “They Erected a Cenotaph in Honor of Caesar Rodney!” rivals Illinoise’s “Casimir Pulaski Day” in terms of delicate beauty.


The Decemberists – Peredur’s Pantheon


Colin Meloy’s most audacious song cycle yet centres on a Welsh naïf named Peredur. Lured by the ghost harpist of Llandysul, the boy is transported to a netherworld that evokes The Wizard of Oz redrafted as a D&D campaign. In twelve untitled vignettes, a folkloric journey unfolds that is in turns wondrous and diabolical and owes as much to the tenets of Joseph Campbell as The Fairport Convention.


Jens Lekman & El Perro Del Mar – The Backseat of the Last Tram EP


Two of Sweden’s more sombre songwriters collaborate here on a set of tuneful, heartache-fuelled duets. The kicker? Every song transpires at the same hipster-laden party in Göteborg. Casting themselves as socially-inept outsiders, the pair’s readings of “Awkward Silence” and “Life of the Party” are positively anxiety-inducing. At least the closing title track suggests that a chance encounter may lay in wait after the final chord is struck.


Will any of these albums actually come to pass? Only the future knows for certain, and it’s not talking. Yet. We’ll see what it has to say after some time in my basement with my “enhanced interrogation techniques.” I’ll have to get back to you.





While none of the above featured albums may actually exist in the strictest terms, very real tracks by the cited artists can be enjoyed at www.the8track.com.