The New Pornographers Share New Track “Ballad Of The Last Payphone”

Last month, The New Pornographers went analogue, surprising fans with the vinyl-first release of their first full band tracks since 2023, “Ballad of the Last Payphone” and “Ego Death For Beginners” via A.C. Newman’s Substack, Ballad of a New Pornographer.

With the limited 7-inch making its way onto turntables around the world, the band today shares a new lyric video for the A-side, “Ballad of the Last Payphone,” animated by Michael Arthur – listen to the track here and watch the lyric video here.

On “Ballad of the Last Payphone”, The New Pornographers gorgeously render fascination with an obsolete object — literally the last payphone in New York City — in tones that are at once melancholic and ethereal, finding something deeply human in something humans have chosen to discard.

A.C. Newman had the following to say on the themes behind “Ballad of the Last Payphone”:

“This song was inspired by a Raymond Carver story called “Fat,” and tells the story of a person visiting the last payphone in NYC where it currently sits, in the Museum of the City of New York. The narrator doesn’t know why they are so fascinated by it, but to us it should be obvious. Obvious to me, at least.”

Limited quantities of the hand-numbered “Ballad of the Last Payphone” b/w “Ego Death For Beginners” 7-inch are available to Vinyl Club tier members of Newman’s Substack. The B-side, “Ego Death For Beginners,” is exclusive to the vinyl release.