New Pornographers Twin Cinema CD

The New Pornographers: Todd MacDonald (mandolin); Tyr Jami (cello); John Collins (bass guitar); David Carswell, Kurt Dahle, Neko Case, Todd Fancey, A.C. Newman, Daniel Bejar, Shaun Brodie, Blaine Thurier.
Personnel: A.C. Newman (vocals, guitar, E-bow, harmonica, pump organ, synthesizer, xylophone); John Collins (vocals, guitar, E-bow, synthesizer); Daniel Bejar (vocals, guitar, melodion, synthesizer); David Carswell (vocals, slide guitar); Kathryn Calder (vocals, piano); Kurt Dahle (vocals, drums, percussion); Neko Case, Nora O'Connor (vocals); Todd Fancey (guitar); Tyr Jami (cello); Shaun Brodie (trumpet); Blaine Thurier (synthesizer).
Additional personnel: Nora O'Connor, Kathryn Calder.
Recording information: Greenhouse Studios, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada (11/2004-04/2005); JC\DC Studios, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (11/2004-04/2005).
Photographers: Karin Bubas; Sarah Pedersen.
When the New Pornographers released their first album, Mass Romantic, in 2000, they were a cult sensation, partially because they were comprised of cult sensations from Vancouver, chief among them Carl Newman of Zumpano, Dan Bejar of Destroyer, and alt-country singer/songwriter Neko Case. Not longer after that first album, Case started to earn some accolades on her own, thereby raising the group's profile, which meant that their second album, 2003's Electric Version, garnered more attention than their debut. But by that point, the band had its own word-of-mouth following, large enough to attract the attention of indie rock standard-bearer Matador, who not only released the New Pornographers' sophomore effort, but Newman's superb solo album The Slow Wonder in the summer of 2004. All this set the stage for the group's third album, Twin Cinema, which arrived in late summer 2005 to rather high expectations -- after all, they not only had two fine records underneath their belt, but The Slow Wonder was also well regarded (and earned some airtime on The OC to boot), so the time seemed ripe for a masterpiece from the New Pornographers. By that standard, Twin Cinema is a disappointment, since it does not constitute either a definitive statement or a great leap forward, but by nearly every other measure, it's a success.
Like their previous two records, it's a bright, hooky record that sounds cheerful even when the tempos slow down and the melodies drift toward a minor key. It's sharp and tuneful, abundant in references to classic guitar pop yet never sounding beholden to the past, thanks to the lively, loose performances, a simple yet muscular production, and smart writing, usually from the pen of Newman. Although he writes ten of the 13 songs here (Bejar contributes the other three, including the insistent "Jackie, Dressed in Cobras" and "Broken Breads," which comes across like Syd Barrett fronting the Kinks or Robyn Hitchcock jamming with the Hoodoo Gurus, depending on your point of view), Newman has a different perspective when writing for the New Pornographers, composing within a specific framework that emphasizes the collective nature of the group, giving every member more or less equal time. And, as Twin Cinema proves, collective is a better word to describe the New Pornographers than band, since they have a friendly, casual vibe that sounds like the product of informal jam sessions. That's appealing, but it's also part of the reason that the New Pornographers can't quite deliver a masterpiece, or an album that's as strong and sustained as The Slow Wonder.
Since all contributions are treated equally, the group doesn't have a distinctive personality or focal point outside of the tunefulness of the music itself. Which is not to say that the New Pornographers lack engaging singers -- Newman has a sweet everyman voice, perfect for power pop, and Neko Case is so gripping a singer that it's hard not to wish she took the lead more often -- but there's such an emphasis on never overemphasizing any specific member that the musicSpin (p.64) - Ranked #7 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2005" - "Getting positively wistful at points, they riff on distance and mortality while Carl Newman pastiches the best '70s melodic radio tricks."
Spin (pp.93-94) - "Newman is a singing encyclopedia of power pop." - Grade: A-
Entertainment Weekly (No. 836, p.59) - "[T]his Canadian indie supergroup add 14 sublime power-pop blasts to their unerring canon of should-be smashes...." - Grade: A
Uncut (p.96) - 4 stars out of 5 - "By turns darker and more challenging than 2003's dazzling ELECTRIC VISION....[The] songs seemingly come from a more insular place this time around."
Magnet (p.52) - Ranked #2 in Magnet's "The 20 Best Albums Of 2005" - "The New Pornographers run up the score...sharing the mic and piling on Technicolor choruses..."
Mojo (Publisher) (p.89) - 3 stars out of 5 - "TWIN CINEMA rolls by like a summery blast of mid-'60s AM radio....This is perfect pop."