New Pornographers Release Christmas Single And Talk To Animals

The New Pornographers have had a busy year entertaining fans across North America and Europe in support of their Challengers album, but they still want to give more.

The band have completed a new digital holiday single called "The Spirit Of Giving" that will also include an A.C. Newman song called "Joseph, Who Understood" and a medley of two Chilliwack songs — "Arms Of Mary" and "Looking At A Baby" — which has been cleverly retitled "Arms Of Mary/Looking At A Baby."

While the EP will be available in the U.S. on Tuesday, Canadians will have to wait until Dec. 11 to download "The Spirit Of Giving." It's an injustice that the band apologize for in their The Fake Headlines e-bulletin, noting that they tried to make the release simultaneous.

As for communing with animals, the group will travel to New York City next month to be a part of comic actress Kristin Schaal's Penelope Princess Of Pets project, a web series that chronicles the adventures of a woman who can talk to animals and believes she must travel to Washington, D.C with her orphaned friend Kyle and alcoholic bird Ruby to kill a senator in order to save the world. In other words, it's good, old-fashioned family fun.

Schaal, a regular on the HBO television series Flight Of The Conchords, also had a hilarious cameo in the summer blockbuster Knocked Up as a bitchy office executive. Penelope Princess Of Pets can be viewed on the Super Deluxe website.