The term supergroup, can convey, often not unjustifiably, some troubling notions.
But you’ll find no pretension or unwieldy narcissism within the ranks of The New Pornographers, an assemblage of well established Vancouver songwriters and musicians who stepped out in brilliant form with Mass Romantic in 2000, and consolidated that effort with stellar follow up Electric Version.
Band mastermind A.C. Newman, fellow songwriters and vocalists Neko Case and Dan Bejar, along with Pornos members Kurt Dahle, John Collins, Blaine Thurier and Todd Fancey may have an array of other projects and solo ventures to accommodate the fullness of their creative needs, but there is also a unity in what the New Pornographers strives for in its sound - a propulsive, brash maximalist pop that can take sudden and unusual twists and turns, keeping you on your toes as a listener or as a dancer.
And whether we’re kicking up our heels to the glam influence of ‘The New Face of Zero and One’, the swirling charge of 'The Laws Have Changed' or ‘Its Only Divine Right’ or the giddy upswing of ‘The Electric Version’ or ‘Miss Teen Wordpower’, you always feel as though there is a precarious edge that you’re spinning uncontrollably close to falling off of, before the song safely brings you down from the addictive sugary highs of Electric Version.
