It’s a rare thing these days for a “super-group” to surprise a listener. Most have become tired husks of bands that have strived to create “something” but fail and end up creating nothing. I’m looking at you Audioslave and Velvet Revolver. I’m not pretending that The New Pornographers are in the same musical ball park as these aforementioned acts, but it’s a similar idea. The combination of A.C. Newman, Dan Behar and Neko Case in one, simply packaged Canadian super-alternative-power-pop group has delivered some stirling songs. But even they had begun to sound formulaic and tired on 2005’s Twin Cinema. It seems as though time apart, and individual projects for all the main protagonists, has removed the shackles. Challengers is a complete breath of fresh air, a record that refreshes the aural palate.

One thing that has to be mentioned about The New Pornographers in 2007 is their maturity. Gone are the throwaway pop nuggets of Twin Cinema and Electric Version. Each of the songs have a more brooding feel, a more cultured approach to their creation. The title track is a perfect example. Neko’s perfect vocals spine tingling as they deliver their tale of lost love and how time isn’t always a healer. Every time I listen to it, the hairs at the back of my neck stand up. The fact that it’s accompanied by a simple acoustic guitar, bass and piano just adds to the emotional breakdown that it’s recalling; “And you live with somebody, I live with somebody too, lets leave it there”. The record all kicks off with the bristling My Right Versus Yours, a rollicking journey through familiar New Pornos territory. The vocal harmonies, chugging guitars and power-pop drums may be New Pornos by numbers, but there’s a maturity to the song writing, the lyrics feel more literary and it doesn’t descend into something that’s throwaway or unnecessary.

We also get a change of tact with Behar’s songs. Seemingly finding his feet after the excellent Rubies album as his alter ego Destroyer, he steels the show. The sexually knowing Entering White Cecilia would sound seedy in anybody else’s hands, but in Behar’s it sounds like a sexual awakening. Go Places is the song Neko has always been threatening to make. No alt-country rubbish, her vocals dominate the gentle piano led ballad – “The heart will always stay one day too long” – recounting the inability for love to switch off, as and when you want it to. Continuing this theme, Adventures in Solitude sounds like a song about a near-death experience, “We thought we lost you”, before it breaks out like a ray of sunshine during a rain storm – an uplifting and joyful experience.

This album is just a pure joy to listen to from start to finish. Some people will complain that The New Pornographers that they knew have gone. The polished power-pop of yore replaced with more cultured story telling. In my mind this is a good thing. It’s a natural development of their art, whether Neko and Behar have had more input into this record is hard to tell, but it feels as though they’ve exercised their muscle to bring Newman back from the brink. Without a doubt, one of the records of the year and a welcome surprise.
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Links
The New Pornographers [official site] [myspace]