If The New Pornographers were the L.A. Lakers, Kathryn Calder would be Lamar Odom. She is the fourth singer in a band that probably would be just fine without her, but when someone else is off on a solo tour, she can step up a fill the role without anyone feeling cheated. She did so well in what was asked of her, in fact, that each album since Twin Cinema has included more of her presence, including a handful of lead singing songs. Sure, she doesn’t get the cream of the crop, but it is at the point where it would be hard to imagine The New Pornographers without her. But because the band is really only a creative release for two of the singers (mostly Carl Newman), she is following the other principals with having a solo album to take the center stage she has earned (Destroyer is not really solo, but close enough).

Titled Are You My Mother? (Seuss? Eastman?), the record was recorded in her childhood home with the help of bandmates Neko Case, Kurt Dahle, and Todd Fancey. Other guest spots on the 10-track effort include members of Frog Eyes and Ladyhawke. And though the collection will be released on August 10th, I wouldn’t count on a solo tour until The New Pornographers wrap their promotion of Together. Between this band, Broken Social Scene and Wolf Parade, someone should get a pool going about which supergroup stays active the longest. I got The New Pornographers.

Check out the tracklisting below and note that it is her first solo song-naming (you can tell). We also have the first track, “Slip Away” available below.

Check Out:
“Slip Away”

Are You My Mother? Tracklist:
01. Slip Away
02. Low
03. Castor and Pollux
04. Arrow
05. If You Only Knew
06. Follow Me Into The Hills
07. Down The River
08. A Day Long Past It’s Prime
09. So Easily
10. All It Is

Note: This press release includes a few choice quotes about the keyboardist and singer. Two were from typical magazines, and the last is pretty priceless:

“Kathryn Calder, who replaced (Neko) Case on vocals and keys, is incredibly charming and charismatic. Tonight, a photographer friend of mine blew a couple of rolls of film on her for this very reason.” – Craig Finn