Culture

Matador Records
(3/5)

This album, the fifth for indie supergroup The New Pornographers, picks up where 2007’s Challengers left off, with that clean production that comes with an album rich in strings, horns, and a well shared-out balance in the vocal duties department. 
First single ‘Your Hands (Together)' is passable pop, giving off the feeling of being somewhere between some sort of next-level Fleetwood Mac and a Godspell-style musical about the lives of people in a small town in Connecticut and the uplifting power of indie. This feel continues throughout the album, especially on the yawnworthy ‘Silver Jenny Dollar’ with Dan Bejar on the vocal and songwriting duties and the rest of the band mostly confined to backups in the chorus. 
The next couple of songs, ‘Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk’ and ‘My Shepherd’, make up for the mediocrity. Annie Clark (a.k.a. St Vincent) comes in on guitar on ‘My Shepherd’, with some subtle, simple, but still interesting lines that wouldn’t sound out of place on one of Neko Case’s solo albums. 
‘Valkyrie and the Roller Disco’ is my personal favourite, where the simplicity is finally rewarded. A. C. Newman initially starts off singing the lead vocals and subtly swaps around with Neko Case with some beautiful lines like “stand in the puddle of the disco light’s glow, come on be the one/there, just like that, you’re doing it again,” just reminding me of that moment when you’re feeling shy about dancing, but one mischievous grin from a friend gets you going all night long. 
Closer ‘We End Up Together’ touches on the brilliance of some of the earlier albums, almost as good as Twin Cinema’s These Are The Fables, and has a few lyrical gems, such as “I’m for damage, sweet damage.” I’d almost believe them, if it weren’t for Bejar not pulling his weight.