I recently discovered one of those rareties - an entire
album that
I can listen to on repeat for days, even weeks, on end. I had never
listened
to any New Pornographers albums before, but "Twin Cinema" had gotten
glowing reviews
from pretty much every news source I read. And it sounded like my kind of
music.
One blog said "Belle and Sebastian with more drums!" Well hey - B+S are
one of my
favorite bands and I like percussion. "It's the ultimate in power pop..."
proclaimed another.
Well count me in - I LOVE good power pop.
Well, it's been two weeks since I've picked this album up and it's
pretty much all I've been listening
to in my car since then. I think it's definitely one of the best albums
of the year. And yes -
the whole album is good. I'd be hard pressed to tell you a song I didn't
like. Plus, they have great harmonies, and
I'm a sucker for interesting harmony. (As an aside - while they have a
lot of interesting harmonies, I will never get
tired of the vocal bass line in "Stacked Crooked". I don't even know
which NP sings it, but he makes the voice sound almost
like a string bass. The actual harmomy itself is interesting too).
One of the major critiques of "Twin Cinema" is that the lyrics are too
abstruse, and in a way they are.
But the lyrics remind me of Dylan Thomas poetry. The meaning is not
entirely clear, but the words flow so well together
that instead of believing the words are just a bunch of gibberish, you are
left with the feeling that they possess
a deep meaning, albeit a meaning that you know you are not totally
grasping. Nonetheless, Dylan Thomas is one of my
favorite poets, and the NP's are now one of my favorite groups.
Last
5 songs played on my iPod:
The Jessica Numbers -
New Pornographers
These Are the Fables -
New Pornographers
Stacked Crooked -
New Pornographers
The Bones of an Idol -
New Pornographers
Jackie, Dressed in Cobras -
New Pornographers
