[3] For a time in 2003 their friend Josh McKay (of the Athens, Georgia band Macha) joined on keyboards, guitar, and random percussion.

[7] Peter Schmidt played with the Legendary Crystal Chandelier, whose second and final album, Beyond Indifference, was released at about the same time as Newness Ends.

[10] Positively received in publications such as the Dusted Magazine,[11] the band filmed a music video (a first for the Kadanes) for the song "Disease" to accompany the album.

[12] The album yielded the band's most popular single, "The End's Not Near," which quickly garnered over two hundred thousand views on YouTube.

The material is described by Touch and Go Records in a press release stating, "Lyrically, these ten songs address the interlocked themes of lost time, frustrated desire, and the need for others."

A generally positive review by Pitchfork praised the album's more cheerful melodies and hopeful lyrics, while noting the melancholy sound of the band's previous releases was intact on many of the songs.

"[18] In early 2012 Bubba and Matt Kadane formed Overseas[19] with David Bazan of Pedro The Lion and Will Johnson of Centro-matic.

[21] The New Year announced in early 2017 that their fourth album, titled Snow, would be released through the Undertow Music Collective.