THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS are a nine-strong collective from Vancouver based around hyperactive musical superfan and quirky songwriter extraordinaire AC Newman. They also feature critically-acclaimed solo performer Neko Case, equally accomplished vocalist Nora O'connor (who this hack knows from Chris Mills' under-rated catalogue) and have been widely lauded for their two previous albums "Mass Romantic" (2000) and 2003's "Electric Version".
So it's certainly true to say their reputation precedes, although this writer must admit to being largely ignorant of their previous oeuvre. However, the simple fact that Newman admits to a liking of "middle-period, post-Gabriel Genesis" within his list of eclectic listening pleasure suggests he's the kinda guy who can be relied on to stick his neck out. I mean, think about it: this means he's actually happy to endorse records featuring Phil Collins. How much lunacy can a man really endure?
Thankfully, Newman's diverse set of influences (which also include Tubeway Army, Wings, Eno and The Stranglers, fact fans) also seep into his offbeat skills with exciting, rollicking pop songs, and "Twin Cinema"s curtains are soon drawn back to reveal a thrillingly dramatic main feature with the emphasis on both corking tunes AND oblique angles.
The title track sets a gleeful pace and is the perfect introduction to Newman and co's skewed, but brilliant world. It's an irresistibly quirky guitar power-athon and carves out a niche somewhere between Guided By Voices and Weezer. It's intelligent, strange and weirdly familiar all at once and a vibrant anthem by anyone's standards.
It's not the only place where "Twin Cinema" rocks, either. The imaginatively-titled "Jackie, Dressed in Cobras" - written and sung by non-touring, Brian Wilson-style member Dan Bejar -revels ecstatically in its' Sparks-meets-Who excitement; "Sing Me Spanish Techno" (don't ask) is a driving rocker with looming guitars and distant blaring harmonica, while the call'n'response vocal triumph of "Three Or Four" stomps along like the sort of thing early XTC might have entertained. Which may or may not be intentional, going on the bizarre favourites in Newman's record collection.
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But "Twin Cinema" is about much more than balls-out, monitor-mounting entertainment. Songs like "The Jessica Numbers" and "These Are The Fables" both serve as indications of the ambition involved in this here project and are both rather stunning. The former is strange, grinding, staccato-ish pop, always wary of pigeonholes, but equally mindful of focus, while "...Fables" is led by a commanding Neko Case vocal and tinges of both Jimmy Webb and Randy Newman. The Webb reference is especially cogent, actually, as lyrics like "10,000 dancing girls kicking cans across the sky" (come again?) is every bit the equal of that one of Webb's about leaving the soddin' cake out in the rain.
They save arguably for last, though. "Stacked Crooked" apparently cribs a verse from 60s' psych-rockers Masters Apprentices' "War Or Hands Of Time", but it opens out around Newman's eerie E-bow guitar, Kurt Dahle's lunkhead, tribal drums and goes on to oscillate wildly down several breathtaking sonic alleys, yet never blindly or without real purpose. As Newman himself says, it's "epic and strange" and works beautifully as the heroic ride into the sunset after a dramatic and highly-charged hour or so.
"Twin Cinema", then, refuses to entirely sacrifice The New Pornographers' arthouse tendencies, yet still sounds winningly like a band in box-office busting widescreen mode. Dim the lights, grab some popcorn and be enthralled.
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