My First Album Review In Awhile

[MEbenhoe]

but when my favorite band, The New Pornographers, comes out with a new album I think its a good time to return and write a review. The album, Challengers, is set to release August 21st, but if you want to hear it now you can pre-order the CD through buyearlygetnow.com and you will be sent a password to listen to a streaming version of the album online over 2 months before release.

The New Pornographers - Challengers

The 4th album by the NPs is such a departure musically from the power-pop sound that had driven their first 3 albums. So much so that AC Newman has said the band on this album is not so much power-pop as it is power-folk.

This album's ensemble now features 4 different lead singers that each bring a very unique sound to the group. Joining the holdovers of AC Newman, Neko Case, and Dan Bejar from previous albums is Kathryn Calder (Newman's niece who has sang Neko's parts on tour in the past when Neko didn't join the group for concerts).

This album is a bit slower and more "epic" sounding. It features the NPs longest song yet at 6:33, "Unguided".

The vocal contributions are great throughout. Neko is at her absolute best in two of the highlights of the album "Challengers" and "Go Places". Bejar contributes possibly his best work so far as a member of the NPs on his songs "Myriad Harbour", "Entering White Cecilia", and "The Spirit of Giving". His contributions on this album sound very close to something like a mellower version of songs you would find on a Destroyer album. Calder contributes a great performance of her own on "Adventures in Solitude" probably the furthest departure for the group. Finally in the Newman lead songs "All That Goes To Make Heaven And Earth" and "Mutiny, I Promise You", you'll find the closest thing to a more classic NPs song.

The album is top to bottom outstanding. The weakest two songs of the album are probably actually the opening two, so don't let those throw you off. From there it builds into a diverse and artistically impressive album.

After the critical success of Twin Cinema I thought that possibly they might try to use their next album to jump into a more mainstream audience, but apparently they are very happy with being labeled an "indie" band because while the album is absolutely amazing it is not anywhere near being radio-accessible.

For those of you who know the NPs collection of work well, this album probably rates slightly below Twin Cinema but better than Electric Version or Mass Romantic. Also, it passes The Shins - Wincing The Night Away for my current favorite for best album of the year.

Rating: 9.5/10

[SL__72]

Sounds awesome. Thanks for the link! Probably will download it tonight.

[MEbenhoe]

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds awesome. Thanks for the link! Probably will download it tonight.

[/ QUOTE ]

just for anyone who wants to use that website, be aware that it can take up to 48 hours to get your password after pre-ordering cd. I ordered mine on Monday and password came on Tuesday afternoon.

[private joker]

Sounds like I will love it, but it does seem I will miss the hard-rockin' drums of Twin Cinema, right Matt? The drum fills from "Twin Cinema" and "Bleeding Heart Show" were my favorite things about the last record.

[7ontheline]

Am I the only one who still likes Mass Romantic the best of all the albums? Whatever, good review Meb. Looking forward to the new album.

[Neko]

"Am I the only one who still likes Mass Romantic the best of all the albums?"

Runaway favourite for me too.

[private joker]

[ QUOTE ]
Am I the only one who still likes Mass Romantic the best of all the albums? Whatever, good review Meb. Looking forward to the new album.

[/ QUOTE ]

You might be the only one. I think they've gotten better with each album. Their songwriting peak to this point is "The Bleeding Heart Show," but I'm hoping there's something even better on Challenger. We'll see, I guess...

In the meantime, not to hijack the thread or anything but I wanted to share, if I haven't already, this awesome short film set to the track. It starts off just regular cute/obvious emo/twee whatever -- but then when the last movement of the song kicks in, the editing totally shifts and the structure of the movie sort of disintegrates into something resembling the end of Kiarostami's TASTE OF CHERRY. I found that part remarkably touching, and have sinced watched the film over 5 times.

So, for all New Pornos fans:

<object width="425" height="350"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/dH9Q4fsZ1IY"></param><param name="wmode" value="transparent"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/dH9Q4fsZ1IY" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" wmode="transparent" width="425" height="350"></embed></object>

[MEbenhoe]

[ QUOTE ]
Sounds like I will love it, but it does seem I will miss the hard-rockin' drums of Twin Cinema, right Matt? The drum fills from "Twin Cinema" and "Bleeding Heart Show" were my favorite things about the last record.

[/ QUOTE ]

They definitely are not as present throughout the album. There are some songs where you will hear the "hard-rockin' drums" that you like, although nothing that stands out to me like the drums on "Bleeding Heart Show". And then you'll also hear some songs where the drums are barely present if at all.

It's hard to stress enough how musically different this whole album is from their previous three.

[MEbenhoe]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Am I the only one who still likes Mass Romantic the best of all the albums? Whatever, good review Meb. Looking forward to the new album.

[/ QUOTE ]

You might be the only one. I think they've gotten better with each album. Their songwriting peak to this point is "The Bleeding Heart Show," but I'm hoping there's something even better on Challenger. We'll see, I guess...


[/ QUOTE ]

I doubt there is any individual song you will find as appealing on this album, but there are quite a few efforts that would rate among their best. "Challengers" and "Go Places" are both just awesome performances by Neko.

Surprisingly the song I'm really digging right now, and think might be the best piece of songwriting on the album "Adventures in Solitude" features Kathryn Calder instead of Neko. It is probably the most musically intricate song they've had to date as it features strings, harp, banjo, and mandolin aside from the regular instruments featured in the band.