Carl Newman’s power-pop all-star team are back in action. Next month, the New Pornographers, Canadian masters of zippy hooks, will follow up 2017’s Whiteout Conditions with a whole new album called In The Morse Code Of Brake Lights. A couple of weeks ago, we posted first single “Falling Down The Stairs Of Your Love,” and it ruled. Today, the New Pornos have followed that one up with a new jam called “The Surprise Knock.” And surprise! It knocks! (Actually, that’s not a surprise at all.)

If the New Pornographers sounded refreshed and fired-up on “Falling Down The Stairs Of Your Love,” they sound like they’ve been mainlining Pixie Stix cut with Adderall on “The Surprise Knock.” The new song is a three-minute thrill-ride, full of layered-up vocal bleats, crashing-crescendo hooks, and jangly guitars played at punk-rock speeds.

Have you ever driven anywhere with a couple of dogs in the back of a van or an SUV? In my experience, those dogs can totally tell when you’re about to get wherever you’re going. They start whining and yelping and bouncing all around. Sometimes, they try to dig holes in the floor of the damn car. And when you get there, and you open that trunk, they shoot off like bullets. All that anticipation immediately becomes sheer physical momentum. That’s the New Pornographers on this song. They’re the dogs who just got let out of the car. “The Surprise Knock” is, in other words, a classic-level New Pornos banger. Listen to it below.

In The Morse Code Of Brake Lights is out 9/27 via Concord Music Group. Pre-order it here.