The New Pornographers' name was chosen by
Carl Newman, who has said that he came up with it because he was a fan of a Japanese film called
The Pornographers. It was also an homage to
The New Seekers and "The Pornographers," a track on bandmate
Dan Bejar's first
Destroyer album, ''
We'll Build Them a Golden Bridge. The band has released ten albums to date: Mass Romantic (2000), Electric Version (2003), Twin Cinema (2005), Challengers (2007), Together (2010), Brill Bruisers (2014), Whiteout Conditions (2017), In the Morse Code of Brake Lights (2019), Continue as a Guest (2023), and The Former Site Of''. A live album recorded on their 2006 tour is available only at concerts and on the band's website. In 2005, the band was the subject of
Reginald Harkema's documentary film
Better Off in Bed. The New Pornographers' first four albums each placed in the top 40 on
The Village Voices
Pazz & Jop year-end poll of hundreds of music reviewers. From 2000 to 2006, either a New Pornographers' album or a solo album from one of the band's members ranked in the top 40 on the list each year. In 2007,
Blender magazine ranked the New Pornographers' first album,
Mass Romantic, the 24th best indie album of all time. In 2009,
Rolling Stone magazine ranked the band's second studio album,
Electric Version, No. 79 in the "100 Best Albums of the Decade". All of the New Pornographers' original members were prominent within the Vancouver music scene prior to forming the band.
Kathryn Calder, who is also Newman's niece, joined the band in 2005 largely as a live replacement for
Neko Case, whose solo career often left her unavailable to perform with the band. Calder's first lead vocals for the band were on 2007's
Challengers, singing the lead on "Failsafe" and sharing the lead with Newman on "Adventures in Solitude". In 2009, the New Pornographers contributed a cover of the
Destroyer song "Hey, Snow White" to the
AIDS benefit album
Dark Was the Night, produced by the
Red Hot Organization. The band released their fifth album,
Together, on May 4, 2010, on
Matador Records. The album includes collaborations from
St. Vincent,
Beirut's Zach Condon, and
Okkervil River's
Will Sheff. In 2012, the New Pornographers contributed a cover of the song "Think About Me" for the
Fleetwood Mac tribute CD called
Just Tell Me That You Want Me released by Hear Music. The band's sixth album,
Brill Bruisers, was released on August 26, 2014. The album was their highest charting to date in the United States, peaking at #13 on the
Billboard 200. The album is the first to feature drummer Joe Seiders as a full-time member after replacing drummer Kurt Dahle in mid-2014. It is also the first New Pornographers album to not feature Dan Bejar. Newman, however, went on the record to note that Bejar's absence did not mean he had left the band entirely; telling
Stereogum: On November 29, 2018, A.C. Newman announced via Twitter that he had begun work on a future New Pornographers album. On August 2, 2019, the band announced via Twitter that it would release its new album,
In the Morse Code of Brake Lights, on September 27, and released its first single from the album, "Falling Down the Stairs of Your Smile". In a press release for the album, Dan Bejar is described as a "former (and possibly future) member" of the band. The new press photos for the band include vocalist/violinist Simi Stone, officially inducting her into the band after being an auxiliary touring member since 2015. In July 2021, the band announced a North American tour where they would play
Mass Romantic and
Twin Cinema in full across simultaneous nights, as well as a reissue of
Mass Romantic on vinyl. This announcement also confirmed the return of Bejar to the band, as well as the departure of both Thurier and Stone. On January 9, 2023, A.C. Newman announced via Twitter that the band had moved to a new label,
Merge Records, alongside announcing the band's ninth album
Continue as a Guest, a single from the album, "Really Really Light", and a tour starting in April. The band's press photos confirmed Bejar's second departure from the group – although he has a co-writing credit on "Really Really Light". On April 17, 2025, drummer
Joe Seiders, who had been with the band since 2014, was arrested in California on
child pornography charges, leading the band to immediately fire him. In November 2025, the band confirmed that they would be continuing, and would tour North America in 2026. In an interview with
Rolling Stone, Newman also confirmed that Seiders' drum parts for the band's tenth studio album had been scrapped.
Charley Drayton overdubbed new drum parts onto the album. In the same interview, Newman expressed a desire to re-record the band's three previous albums in order to remove Seiders' drum parts. In January 2026, the band officially announced their new album,
The Former Site Of, and shared its lead single "Votive" following with the two singles "Pure Sticker Shock" released on February 10 and "Spooky Action" on March 2. It was released on March 27, 2026, via Merge. ==Members==