Sunday, October 28, 2007
A+E, Music, Reviews

New Pornographers

“Challengers” (Matador)

Though Neko Case grabs her share of photo shoots and press clippings with an enviable solo career, Vancouver’s New Pornographers are primarily the working dream of former Zumpano head A.C. (“Carl”) Newman, whose amiable, slightly askew alterna-pop makes each of the band’s albums immediately catchy and worthy of deeper headphone listening. Case adds her vocal chimes to the title track and the perky, upbeat “Go Places” while her capable compatriots add and subtract instruments at their leisure, but Newman wrote nine of this album’s 12 tracks and, in the end, it’s the songs that define the group.

The group’s fourth album was recorded piecemeal all over North America. Dan Bejar, also of Destroyer, adds three compelling originals of his own. “Myriad Harbour” and “Entering White Cecilia” use male-female vocal interplay and layers of quiet orchestration (flute, harp and strings make appearances) to press their pop points, tilting moods to the ether.

But it’s Newman’s bright pop hooks that dominate and drive the unrestrained glee of “My Rights Versus Yours,” “All The Things That Go To Make Heaven and Earth” and the scruffy “Failsafe.” Newman navigates the group through a tour of great pop moments that steal snatches of aggressive New Wave rhythms, jarring synth-pop counterpoint, standard ’60s AM jangle, impressionistic girl-group harmonies and tons more pop quotables—all without losing the band’s identifiable thread. Because no matter how clever, no matter how ornate the arrangements, the New Pornographers still steady their nerves with the thrust of a well-strummed guitar and an elegant melody. THREE AND A HALF STARS—Rob O’Connor