On the New Pornographers' last couple of albums, the Vancouver pop collective dabbled in organic-sounding chamber pop lushness to mixed results; Brill Bruisers is a resounding return to form — and not just because it's their most upbeat album in nearly a decade.
Certainly, the album has its ample share of band leader Carl Newman's signature power-pop anthems — cuts like "Brill Bruisers" and "Dancehall Domine" have hooks that would sound right at home on Electric Version or Twin Cinema — but the best moments come when the group venture into new, more synth-focused territory: the slinky groove of the Neko Case-fronted "Champions of Red Wine" is flecked with twinkling synth arpeggiations, and the Kathryn Calder-led "Another Drug Deal of the Heart" is a gorgeously simple three-chord ditty in the vein of the Magnetic Fields. The biggest departure is the collection's best song, as "Backstairs" sports haunting melodies and a vocoder refrain that grows increasingly triumphant in its final passage.
Newman isn't the only one stretching his wings here. Songwriting foil Dan Bejar is uncharacteristically upbeat and pop-friendly on the urgently surging "War on the East Coast" and "Born with a Sound," the latter of which features a memorably dramatic vocal cameo from Black Mountain singer Amber Webber.
For fans of the New Pornographers, Brill Bruisers is the best-case scenario: an album that captures the spirit of the group's classic work while simultaneously pushing into new territory. Newman himself says it best on "Wilde Eyes," when he sings, "I swear I/ See my former glory/ Still burning/ It had every intent of returning." On Brill Bruisers, the band's glory days have returned.
Read our recent Timeline on the New Pornographers here.
(Last Gang)Certainly, the album has its ample share of band leader Carl Newman's signature power-pop anthems — cuts like "Brill Bruisers" and "Dancehall Domine" have hooks that would sound right at home on Electric Version or Twin Cinema — but the best moments come when the group venture into new, more synth-focused territory: the slinky groove of the Neko Case-fronted "Champions of Red Wine" is flecked with twinkling synth arpeggiations, and the Kathryn Calder-led "Another Drug Deal of the Heart" is a gorgeously simple three-chord ditty in the vein of the Magnetic Fields. The biggest departure is the collection's best song, as "Backstairs" sports haunting melodies and a vocoder refrain that grows increasingly triumphant in its final passage.
Newman isn't the only one stretching his wings here. Songwriting foil Dan Bejar is uncharacteristically upbeat and pop-friendly on the urgently surging "War on the East Coast" and "Born with a Sound," the latter of which features a memorably dramatic vocal cameo from Black Mountain singer Amber Webber.
For fans of the New Pornographers, Brill Bruisers is the best-case scenario: an album that captures the spirit of the group's classic work while simultaneously pushing into new territory. Newman himself says it best on "Wilde Eyes," when he sings, "I swear I/ See my former glory/ Still burning/ It had every intent of returning." On Brill Bruisers, the band's glory days have returned.
Read our recent Timeline on the New Pornographers here.