New Pornographers
The New Pornographers are a Vancouver group made up of A.C. Newman and a group of ridiculously talented people he feels are uniquely equipped to realize his musical ambitions. They formed in 1997, almost immediately recorded the classic “Letter From An Occupant,” and it was on. Their 2000 debut ‘Mass Romantic’ and 2003’s ‘Electric Version’ (as well as Newman’s 2004 solo debut ‘The Slow Wonder’) enjoyed wild critical and public acclaim, and brought a lot of joy to the world.
‘Twin Cinema’ is doubly impressive, offering both baby-blanket familiarity and jarring growth. Here they’re not automatically going for the steamroller singalong or (to quote New Pornographers buff Rob Halford) “all guns blazing”, but pushing themselves further. Fans of ‘Mass Romantic’s’ kinkiness will find immediate appeal, as will those partial to ‘Electric Version’s’ drive. Yet the songs on ‘Twin Cinema’ veer away from sugar and kitsch toward something a bit more personal. Newman has absorbed not just the mechanics of classic songwriting, but the heart
