• HILITE NEWS HAS BEEN NAMED A NATIONAL SCHOLASTIC PRESS ASSOCIATION ONLINE PACEMAKER FINALIST
  • HILITE NEWS HAS BEEN NAMED THE HOOSIER STAR WINNER FOR NEWS SITE
  • HILITE NEWS HAS BEEN NAMED A COLUMBIA SCHOLASTIC PRESS ASSOCIATION GOLD CROWN WINNER
Your source for CHS news

HiLite

Your source for CHS news

HiLite

Your source for CHS news

HiLite

New Pornographers’ album ‘Challengers’ change for better

By: Mitch Ringenberg <[email protected]>

The New Pornographers’ fourth release, “Challengers,” is an enjoyable, yet inconsistent, album. The New Pornographers are an eight-piece outfit from Vancouver, Canada, that released their debut, “Mass Romantic,” in 2000 to much critical acclaim. “Twin Cinema,” which was released in 2005, was the band’s biggest success critically and commercially. Now, two years later, their follow-up “Challengers” has been released. Imagine an indie band that combines the sounds of The Shins and incorporates enough hooks and melody to fill up an album’s worth of fun, if not disposable, three-minute songs, and you have the New Pornographers.

In the past, the band has kept their material to a fine consistency with short and catchy indie pop songs. This time, the New Pornographers are experimenting more musically, like many bands tend to do after a while. Instead of staying within the confines of their short and very uncomplicated indie-pop songs, they show definite signs of branching out and expanding their songs for a more full sound.

For example, not only does the song “Unguided” clock in at an epic six minutes and 30 seconds, but the band is also adding instruments that aren’t usually found in this band, such as violins.

Some fans or critics will undoubtedly not understand this change in style. This is a risk many bands take when they experiment with their music. However, the New Pornographers do not fail where other bands do by simply sounding like they are trying to mimic another band or another style of music.

“Challengers” opens with “My Rights Versus Yours,” one of the lightest and catchiest songs on the album. This song is typical New Pornographers, with their usual hooks and melodies grabbing you as soon as the song is in effect. Sung by lead vocalist A.C. Newman, it ranks as one of the best songs here.

You don’t start noticing the more mature sound until you get to the title track. Neko Case, the New Pornographers’ backup vocalist, sings it. It’s easily one of the most mellow and experimental songs the band has written to date. After the title track is the great “Myriad Harbour,” a song about New York written by yet another vocalist, Dan Bejar. After that, however, is where the album begins to lag a bit.

Rest assured, the album does not have a great amount of shortcomings. Where the album does fail is with songs such as “Go Places,” “Failsafe” and “Adventures in Solitude.” While these songs aren’t bad per se, they just don’t add up when compared to the better tracks on the album.

The album reaches a high point halfway through with the back-to-back songs “Unguided” and “Entering White Cecilia.” The latter, which sounds like a great, lost Pixies song, is by far the best song on “Challengers.” Bejar once again sings and writes this song with his unique lyric and vocal styles.

The last song, “The Spirit of Giving,” is an excellent way to close the album. It ends “Challengers” on a downbeat and melancholy note, but there’s hope yet, because with this album, not only have the New Pornographers matured their sound, they’ve improved it; and if the band keeps releasing albums of this quality, then music fans have much to look forward to.

Leave a Comment
Donate to HiLite
$20
$500
Contributed
Our Goal

Comments (0)

All HiLite Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *