In their twenty-six years of activity, the enduring Canadian Indie Rock band The New Pornographers have released nine studio albums. Many of which found their way onto album charts, there have been many highlights; from the 2000 debut, Mass Romantic, to their latest, 2023’s Continue as a Guest.
Unleashed back on March 31st, Continue as a Guest is the band’s follow up to 2019’s In the Morse Code of Brake Lights and their first through new record label Merge Records. Recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is a 10-song record that is the result of the band’s experience and perspective about the time – tackling themes of isolation and collapse. It opens with the lead single, “Really, Really Light” which is catchy and uplifting, with a slightly fuzzy swagger. The beat then segues into the four-on-the-floor pulse of “Pontius Pilate’s Home Movies,” and then followed by “Cat and Mouse with the Light,” a bit jazzy, with Avant-garde sensibilities.
This is while “Last and Beautiful” is a different sonic beast, taking you to the rougher and edgier kind of Rock, only to turn slow and melodramatic as the title-track playing next. And then there is “Bottle Episodes,” which may be regarded as the album’s highlight and possess a Sophistipop sound in the veins of Mike & the Mechanics’ “All I Need Is a Miracle,” Human Radio’s “Me & Elvis,” or Immaculate Fools’ “Tragic Comedy.” Three more tracks follow – the subtle sway of “Marie and the Undersea,” the dizzying “Angelcover,” and the breezy “Firework in the Falling Snow.” Finally, The New Pornographers wrap up their latest work nicely with “Wish Automatic Suite.”
Of the batch of exciting bands that emerged from the flourishing Canadian Indie Rock scene in the 2000s – which included Broken Social Scene, The Dears, and Arcade Fire – The New Pornographers remain one of the most enduring as well as prolific. Continue as a Guest is a proof of that, and that is why Cryptic Rock gives it 4 out of 5 stars.
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