The New Pornographers

“Every time I’m doing an interview for an album I tell the person ‘just wait for our next record’” says Carl Newman, “that’s my stock quote”.  Speaking from his “idyllic” home in Woodstock, New York, Newman is articulate and friendly, though his conversation is littered with what one suspects are many such standard responses.  But then, the lead singer, primary songwriter and general guiding hand behind the New Pornographers has had plenty of time to hone the subtle art of the soundbite.

It’s getting on ten years since the Vancouverite collective released their ebullient debut Mass Romantic.  In that time they’ve cemented a reputation as generous purveyors of pop exuberance, while never quite seeming to reach the same giddy heights promised with that initial release.  The guarana kick of tracks such as ‘All the Things that Go to Make’ from 2007’s Challenger have become the exception to the rule, spacious power ballads rising to the fore as the group have gently matured.

So, has the energy been difficult to sustain?  “I think we’ll always have that, [which] makes me want to always push out and do different things” says Newman, “it makes me wanna go and be more minimal.  It’s important just to be happy with what you’re doing and not feel like you’re just doing the same thing.  If we’re not America’s Number One Party Band anymore then, well, that’s just our fate.

“I think we will always be a rock group, it’s our default setting.  Even on this new record, it’s pretty much an upbeat rock record.  When I listen to Grizzly Bear or Fleet Foxes or Bon Iver, I think, yeah we sound like AC/DC!”  The new record in question is Together and is certainly at odds with the introspective nostalgia currently doing the rounds, songs such as ‘The Crash Years’ matching Newman’s obliquely recalcitrant lyrics with blithely hummable hooks.

Although the name suggests warm and rosy inclusiveness, as Newman explains: “in its way, Together was a little bit defiant.  Because everybody’s doing their own things [people are] always like ‘the New Pornographers are about to break up.  They’re on their last legs.’  Also, when we first started ten years ago we used to do this cover of the song ‘Together’ by the Illusion, so when I remembered that I thought ‘things have come full circle’.  Calling it Together in a way was a very elliptical way of calling the record Get Back.”

Given the part-time status of most of the band’s members – Dan Bejar is more widely recognised for the whimsical complexities of Destroyer, while Neko Case is better known as an unstoppable force of nature Neko Case – the New Pornographer’s continued existence has at times indeed seemed unlikely to outsiders.  For Newman though this is simply the way of things: “we’ve done it for so long – you just get used to it.  Neko doesn’t write any songs in the band, so it’s not like she’s making this massive shift.”

Things aren’t so clear cut for Newman himself, balancing his New Pornographer songwriting duties with his own solo work.  “There isn’t really a clear line,” he says.  “There are some songs on my last solo record [last year’s Get Guilty] like 'Prophets', where I listen to it now I think ‘I think I should’ve made that a New Pornographers’ song’.  But what can I do?  Of course I could play those songs live with the New Pornographers.  I might try it.”

Perhaps the collective’s (Newman dislikes hearing the words ‘super’ and ‘group’ spoken in the same breath) resilience comes from the flexibility of their approach, the ability to absorb differing levels of involvement and seamlessly incorporate whatever’s on offer.  Together is a case in point, featuring guest contributions from Zach Condon (aka Beirut), Annie Clark (St Vincent), the Dap-Kings as well as Will Sheff of Okkervil River.  “It was a last minute thing” explains Newman.  “We were getting to the end of the record and we were trying to fill in the blanks.  We were just very lucky that we happened to be in New York and all these people were around.  It’s such a collecting place for interesting people.  You’ve got a giant talent pool to choose from.”

Although keenly aware of the debt he owes the land of the maple leaf – “Canada is really good [when it comes to] supporting their own culture; I think we’ve gleaned some of the fruits of that” – Newman seems happy in his adopted home, particularly in light of political events of the last eighteen months.  “It’s amazing to have Obama as president.  Now you hear all the wingnuts, right wing people talk, and it’s nice to know that they’re not in power, that they’re on the fringes and that they’re getting crazier.  It gives you some hope definitely.”

With an extended tour of North America in the works over the coming months, and an Australian tour (with the full lineup) slated for early next year, cautious hope seems to be the order of the day.  Not that Newman will be satisfied anytime soon.  “Together is the definitive New Pornographers record.  Not as good as our next record is going to be though.  That’s going to be the ultra-definitive album.”


First published in The Brag, May 2010