New Pornographers - Challengers

Download: Removed by request of the label
Download: Removed by request of the label
Download: Removed by request of the label
Download: Removed by request of the label

The New Pornographers
Challengers (Matador, 2007)
Grade: A

Over the course of three highly infectious, new-wave influenced, indie-pop albums, The New Pornographers have been slowly, but surely, introducing hints of wistful melancholy. Furthermore, the band has been adding layers of instrumentation which would suggest that an already detailed-oriented group of songwriters are becoming even more advanced in their craft. Those steady artistic additions come to fruition with Challengers, the fourth record from the Canadian octet. It's an album which allows The New Pornographers to showcase its slower, more introspective side without losing the uncanny sense of melody and harmony that made the band so justly praised in the first place.

The New Pornographers aren't nearly as happy-go-lucky as they might seem on the musical surface (could any group with a song called "The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism" be considered as such?). But, save for the occasional song like "Mutiny, I Promise You" and "All The Things That Go To Heaven And Earth," Challengers represents the first time that The New Pornos have chosen to sustain a sadder, more reflexive, mood throughout an entire record.

From the opening strummed (harpsi?)chord and French horn line of "My Rights Versus Yours" to the achingly drawn-out group harmonies of "The Spirit of Giving," Challengers sounds like the group exploring sadness and managing to find something thrilling about it. But like most great groups, The New Pornographers manage to make the most hopeless feelings cathartic, whether it's the hushed title track or the heartbreaking "Unguided" (the former being sung impeccably by Neko Case, the later sung in the same way by Kathryn Calder ).

There are many sadly beautiful moments on Challengers that the listener can drink in like a finely aged wine. Even if the only good song on the record was "Myriad Harbor" (with its ingenious placement of Bob Dylan's harmonica over the Beach Boys-esque harmonies), that alone would still be worth the price of admission. Most songs on Challengers have nuanced orchestral touches (flutes, harp, strings, etc), which in turn help create a more contemplative version of The New Pornographers' sound. The result is sweet, meditative musical frosting on the cake of pensiveness.

An album that's titled Challengers may conjure up notions of the avant-garde but, rest assured, this record is anything but. Still, some Porno's fans may have a hard time adjusting to the shifts in the band's sound. All the reasons I heaped praise on the record were the exact reasons someone I had a conversation with recently gave for disliking the record. His was a valid opinion, but at the same time, it's also his loss because Challengers is a richly crafted, finely layered, record. Undoubtedly, it is one of the best records of the year and maybe even of the New Pornographers' career so far.

Pre-Order Challengers here.

(Jonathan Graef)