A woman is trapped on a cruise ship. A preacher decides to go down with his town. A man at the florist finds himself lost in the meaning of the arrangement. These and other people at personal and societal extremes are the subjects of ten timely, timeless short stories collected as meticulously crafted pop songs by The New Pornographers on their forthcoming album, The Former Site Of.

The album, like Continue as a Guest, finds The New Pornographers—bandleader A.C. Newman, Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, John Collins, and Todd Fancey—expanding their already rich catalog in surprising fashion. Joined for this album by legendary session drummer Charley Drayton (Divinyls, The Cult, The Rolling Stones, Fiona Apple), the space contained in a New Pornographers song has never been this clearly articulated or generously textured, giving a distinct pulse to the characters whose lives spill out in Newman’s tender, evocative lyrics.