The New Pornographers: Really Really Light
Clever vocal interplay and a gradually insinuating melody are on display here.
By Kerry Doole
The New Pornographers: Really Really Light (Merge Records): There is big news in the camp of this now-veteran BC-based collective, for the group has just signed to famed US indie label Merge Records, home to the now-maligned Arcade Fire. A new album, Continue as A Guest, is set for release on March 31, preceded by new focus track Really Really Light and an accompanying video directed by Christian Cerezo.
In a press release, leader A.C. Newman explains that the track is a co-write with former NP member Dan Bejar (Destroyer), formerly intended for the band’s acclaimed 2014 album Brill Bruisers. "Part of my process throughout the years has been messing with things I never finished. I really liked Dan’s chorus, and for a while, I was just trying to write something that I felt like belonged with it,” Newman shares.
“I was thinking of the Aloe Blacc song The Man, which interpolated the chorus from Elton John’s Your Song, and thought it would be fun to interpolate a song that no one knows. Not trying to sound like Aloe Blacc, just doing some interpolating of my own. It became a game of writing a verse that felt like a part of the same song. In my mind, I was striving for a little Jeff Lynne–era Tom Petty, a classic go-to.”
The mid-tempo cut features a clever interplay of male and female vocals, a group signature, plus ringing guitar and a gradually insinuating melody. Another winner from a band with a trunk full of gems accumulated over a career now spanning two full decades.
Newman began work on Continue as a Guest at his Woodstock, New York home over the course of a year after the band had just finished touring behind 2019’s In The Morse Code Of Brake Lights. The 10-track album, the group's ninth, is produced by Newman and features compatriots Neko Case, Kathryn Calder, John Collins, Todd Fancey, and Joe Seiders, as well as contributions from saxophonist Zach Djanikian and, in addition to the Bejar, co-write, the track Firework in the Falling Snow was co-penned by Sadie Dupuis (Speedy Ortiz, Sad13).
The press release explains that the upcoming record "tackles themes of isolation and collapse, following the ambivalence of day-to-day life during the pandemic and the endless pitfalls of living online." Heavy stuff, but the exuberance of The New Pornographers and Newman's melodic gifts are sure to keep agst at bay. We look forwad to hearing more.
A spring North American tour has also been announced. It begins in Asheville, NC, on April 19, concluding in Saxapahaw, NC, on May 21. The band plays Toronto's Danforth Music Hall on May 12. Itinerary here.
Links
Publicity: Ken Beattie, Killbeat
Management: info@brilliantcorners.com
Booking Agent -Canada: Steven Himmelfarb, Feldman Agency
