The New Pornographers, a super-group made up of artists who have been successful with their own solo projects (Neko Case and Dan Bejar especially), have come together once again to release their fourth full-length album, Challengers. Fans who think they will be purchasing a New Pornographers record when shelling out cash for the new release, however, are only half correct in this assumption.
The strength of the LP is its beginning, with its classic and melodic first and second tracks. "My Rights Versus Yours" leads off the release with a stream of consciousness narrative and a chorus that includes the line "a new empire in rags." "All the Old Showstoppers," the second track, continues the band's fixation with "numbers" (see Twin Cinema's "The Jessica Numbers"), and includes the lines "When John he saw the numbers he lied / made up the whole thing, / failed when he tried / to cash in on his cautious new fame / always the numbers but never the name."
It's fitting that the CD begins with these tracks; their titles and lyrics are emblematic of a struggle for dominance as the album progresses between classic New Pornographers style and songs more reminiscent of the members' individual work. The band's "numbers" are the same, as in the line-up, but in this album the personnel haven't banded together as "The New Pornographers" in the same way they have in the past.
One could argue that fans have the right to expect a New Pornographers album and not, say, a Destroyer album. (Destroyer is Bejar's solo project.) "Myriad Harbor," sounds like a Destroyer song, but with the advantage of more band members and therefore more backing vocals.
For those not familiar with Destroyer, a Destroyer song is heavily centered around the vocal styling of Bejar, who stresses the "ow" and "oo" sounds in most words.
"Entering White Cecilia" seems even more like a solo effort by Bejar, as does the final track, "The Spirit of Giving." No surprise that the songwriting credits go solely to Bejar for those tracks. "Go Places" also sounds like a solo effort, this time by Case.
One could also argue, however, that Bejar has a right to express himself creatively with The New Pornographers, regardless of whether it makes some of the tracks sound like his own act.The same could be said for Case.
Though the individual members seem to challenge each other for airtime, the group is not exactly challenging the unknown, to borrow a phrase from the album's title track. Any of the more group-oriented tracks would slip in unnoticed among older New Pornographers songs (key word: unnoticed). All the "Old Showstoppers," such as "Use It" and "Sing Me Spanish Techno" that made The New Pornographers 2005 album Twin Cinema great are absent from Challengers. The strength of Twin Cinema was that it represented a synthesis of each member's style into a greater whole.
Challengers falters, due in part to the lack of cohesion of the group throughout the release.
Fans of The New Pornographers: Download the first two tracks (legally of course) and preview the rest before heading to the store.
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