New Partner

The seventh track on Viva Last Blues is a fan favorite. Matt LeMay wrote in Pitchfork's list of the 1990s that it reveals itself over time, striking for its melodic beauty, and that repeat listens uncover unsettling undercurrents in the lyrics and delivery, so that it is hard to tell whether Oldham sees any difference between love, sex and death. Stereogum's Michael Nelson called it the best song Oldham has written, and Treble calls it a thoughtful and sentimental waltz that remains one of the greatest in his catalog.

John Green reviewed it on his podcast The Anthropocene Reviewed in 2019 and gave it four stars. Mark Kozelek recorded it on his 2008 album The Finally LP. Oldham played it on the 2006 tour with Harem Scarem, and a 4:39 version is on Is It the Sea? (2008).