The New Pornographers – Together
Matador: 2010
Purchase on Amazon
Ever since this indie rock supergroup (of sorts) debuted with 2000’s Mass Romantic, the New Pornographers have displayed an incredible knack for absurdly catchy power pop. I’m talking the kind of stuff you can’t help but sing along to when it starts up. Whether you’re scrubbing your arms in the shower or picking your nose in the car, somehow the fetching melodies within this band’s music sneaks out. The only weakness displayed by the New Pornographers, aside from their parents-unfriendly name, is their seemingly dwindling output quality.
That’s not to say the band’s necessarily gone to hell since debuting. It’s more a sense that the group peaked somewhere along the line. Fans mostly argue that the New Pornographers’ best work was their first three albums: the aforementioned Mass Romantic, 2003’s Electric Version, and 2005’s Twin Cinema, which was also the most critically lauded. And if you follow the views of critics and diehards, you can’t help but agree with them because, well, they make a great point.
The New Pornos’ sound changed (or matured, if you prefer) following Twin Cinema and everything got a lot glossier and jazzed-up, perhaps. The slight rawness of the crew’s previous efforts was gone when Challengers dropped in 2007. A solid album in its own right, it felt slightly recycled and plastic. Aside from its gorgeous title-track and a few other choice cuts, Challengers failed to hit like previous albums in the band’s catalog.
Along with the aforementioned glossier sound, the New Pornos couldn’t help but find themselves in a creative rut. You can only rehash the same chords and song ideas so many times before your listeners catch on. Unlike the work done by individual members and primary songwriters Carl Newman and Dan Bejar and prominent vocalist Neko Case, there were few chances taken by the group as a whole. But to that point, Case herself has found her music hitting a slight creative peak as she’s transitioned from folky country to a more alt-country pop sound.
With that background, we enter the realm of the band’s fifth album, Together. This time around, there are a number of collaborations with outside acts such as Beirut’s Zach Condon, St. Vincent’s Annie Clark, and Okkervil River’s Will Sheff. As a result of these new guests, you cannot help but assume the end result would be different, a change of pace, a possible left-field excursion. Unfortunately, that’s not really the case. Rather, this LP builds slightly on the sound heard on Challengers with a few changes here and there, but nothing major enough to cause a stir.
Most of Together actually flies by easily. It’s not that it’s a superficial listen, though. It just fails to grab your ear like previous albums from this group. Sure, you will be instantly enamored with tracks like lead single ” Your Hands (Together)” and “Silver Jenny Dollar”, which actually appear back-to-back. But others take time and multiple spins to grow on you.
“Valkyrie in the Disco”, for example, barely resonated after the first few initial listens. But after playing this album nearly 10 times, even this cut got lodged in my brain. While writing this review, “Valkyrie in the Disco” came on and I couldn’t help but sing along to the sugary sweet vocals. Elsewhere, “Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk”, which is fueled by fantastic piano strokes, and the foot-stomping “Up in the Dark” become endearing, particularly their beyond-catchy choruses. But, as referenced earlier, the only challenging part about these tracks is the fact they take a while to fully appreciate.
There’s something to be said for a band maturing its sound while maintaining a quality product. Gone are the raucous movements of the New Pornos’ first three records. In their place are more well rounded, perhaps even more focused pieces. But it always seemed as if this kind of music had its place within the members’ solo efforts and not in their group projects. Together absolutely succeeds in terms of displaying effective songwriting , but the energy and vivaciousness of their earlier albums is sorely missed.
