Label: Matador Records
Release Date: March 6, 2003
Website: www.thenewpornographers.com
The New Pornographers
- Electric Version
Joel Atkinson
The New Pornographers quietly released their debut
album Mass Romantic in 2000. And then people
listened to it. With an approach that was anything but
subtle, the NPs aurally assaulted the listener with
buzzing guitars, strange keyboards, and oddball lyrics
that weren't so much sung as spewed at the listener.
And somehow, it worked. Adding the phrase "Canadian
supergroup" to the collective consciousness of the
underground music scene, they calmly deflected the
massive amounts of praise they received. And then they
made another album.
It's pretty much more of the same. Principal
songwriter Carl Newman and his cohorts don't really
mess with the kitchen-sink formula that worked so well
on Mass Romantic. The album's first three songs are all
wild pop gems. "The Laws Have Changed" is probably the
standout track of the album, with great singing by
Neko Case and silly background vocals by Newman (I
think, who knows. It could be the drummer). However,
the album goes into a funk on "The End of Medicine."
It exposes the dark side of Newman's weakness for
cramming as many chord changes as he possibly can into
a 3-minute song. Instead of sounding quirky and "fun,"
it comes off as flat and insipid. While that is the
only truly bad song on the album, many of the rest of
the songs just don't have the same spark as that made
Mass Romantic so arresting. Neko Case's songs don't
match "Letter From an Occupant" or "Mass Romantic."
"It's Only Divine Right" does manage to rock harder
than anything they've ever done before.
One thing must be mentioned: the songs by "secret
member" Dan Bejar. His songs are the most quirky of
the album, and the most divisive between NP fans.
Personally, I find his songs to be wonderful and an
amusing change of pace, though they don't seem all
that different from Newman's. His snarly delivery and
amazingly weird lyrics ("Stole a page from your book,
and a line from your page, and flew into a lesbian
rage") are an acquired taste, I must admit.
Electric Version is not a perfect album, and it's
not the masterpiece that Mass Romantic was, but it's
a fine album for you fans of power pop, rock,
whatever. It'll be on a lot of top 10 lists this year,
and if you like music with good hooks, it should be.
posted 12.26.03
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Joel Atkinson is not Stephin Merrit, but he does own a ukulele. He'll sing you love songs at theicecreamsocial@yahoo.com
2002 White Elephant
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