A.C. Newman to release new album in January 09

Carl Newman of The New Pornographers is nearing completion of his second solo album (under the initialed A.C. Newman name), which is set for a January release. His debut The Slow Wonder was a slice of guitar pop that had some wonderfully catchy songs, not unlike the Pornos, or even his older band Zumpano.

Newman on the as-yet untitled album: “My friend John Wurster, who drums with Superchunk and the Mountain Goats, did most of the drumming,” he says. “A singer named Nicole Atkins did a lot of singing on it. She’s a really killer singer; she kind of reminds me of a cross between Mama Cass and the Shangri-La’s.”