Band’s tenth album sees them produce an emotionally rich body of work.
It’s been almost 30 years since AC Newman formed The New Pornographers and over a quarter of a century since their debut album was released. The album was born partly out of internal upheaval caused by the departure of their drummer, who was replaced by the legendary sticksman and session musician Charley Drayton. Many of the songs paint pictures of people stuck in situations where they feel doomed or which are inescapable, as well as a yearning for the past.
The opening track, Great Princess Story, is one for our times, with a woman seemingly trapped on a cruise liner who encounters a type of collective denial as everybody puts on a cheerful front, “we’re watching Oscar bait” and “singing in the rain”, as the ship, albeit possibly a metaphorical one, sinks. The façade of normalcy is maintained, even as the world is falling apart.
The Ballad of the Last Payphone is not just a nostalgic reflection on the disappearance of old technology in the form of the last payphone in New York but how redundant equipment is quickly abandoned without ceremony and life simply moves on. Kathryn Calder’s and Neko Case’s vocals underline this sentiment as they sing “Nothing major, man, It’s just the last payphone.” In the song Newman also prods us to consider whether we treat people and relationships in a similar way to antiquated machinery.
Votive has the drums and guitar to the fore. As Newman sings “Hands are cupped around a match, I’m just trying to keep the lights on”, there’s a note of desperation and urgency, and then after three and half minutes proceedings are brought to a sudden halt. Wine Remembers the Water commences with a pulsating synth. The song explores the tension between staying and changing.
In Bonus Mai Tai Newman recounts meeting a friend with advanced cancer for drinks, and is struck by their frankness in the face of death. The song describes how joy can be found in the dying embers of life as the pair consider “The sidereal doo-wop of the rain on the skylight”. Newman eloquently sums things up as he sings “You’re calling this the bonus round, I don’t want to call it that, though.” It’s the most heartfelt song on the record with Case’s and Calder’s ethereal harmonies providing an otherworldly reflection on what might be the final time two people see each other.
This is one of those albums that require repeated listens. It may lack some of the hooks and riffs that featured on The New Pornographers’ previous works but it has considerable emotional depth both in the music and the lyrics. Although many of the characters in the songs face struggles, there’s a calm assurance in how they are often faced resolutely and quietly. This is a record from a band that refuses to stagnate and that has chosen evolution over complacency.
