Album Review: The New Pornographers - Brill Bruisers

If Canadian indie rock supergroup The New Pornographers have suffered from anything in their five previous albums, it has been that the band has simply too much individual talent. With songwriting stalwarts Carl (AC) Newman, Dan Bejar (Destroyer), and Neko Case, not to mention Katherine Calder (Immaculate Machine—excellent band!), the band has always struggled to make a cohesive record from front to back, especially in their last two releases, Challengers (2007) and Together (2010). The pattern within their albums has become familiar: the best songs are sung and written by Newman, Neko chimes in here and there with her iconic vocal chops, and Bejar drunkenly stumbles in every three songs with an off-kilter, yet oddly whimsical and endearing track (see “Silver Jenny Dollar”, “Myriad Harbour”).

Brill Bruisers “challenges” this familiar mold. The instrumentation is fresh, with deep modulated bass riffs and more synths, while still keeping that distinct “New Pornos” blend of indie rock. The band seems more cohesive, with vocals blending and fewer single vocal tracks featuring only Bejar, Newman or Neko. This is perfectly illustrated on the title track that features triumphant “bo-bahs” and “ooooohs” sung by the whole band, while Newman confidently slides in between to add lyrical depth. It’s a song that just screams happiness. This lyrical sharing is a general theme throughout the album and is capped off perfectly with the pop explosion that is the final track, “You Tell Me Where.” (link)

Even some of the songs with a single lead vocalist, such as Bejar’s “War on the West Coast” are stellar. I love this song with its dark, brooding bass riffs and creepy lyrics sung by the King of Creep himself, Dan Bejar. On the other hand, songs like “Wide Eyes,” “Spidyr,” and “Hi-Rise,” are just boring in my opinion and offer little lyrical or instrumentally.

As a final thought, Brill Bruisers just doesn’t stand up to early New Pornogrpaher’s albums. It lacks the power chords of Mass Romantic’s “Slow Descent into Alcoholism,” the pure energy of a Kurt Dahle drum fill a la “The Bleeding Heart Show,” or the staying power of a catchy single like “Letter from an Occupant.” While the album has its highs, I feel it simply doesn’t have that THING that will continue to bring people back to it in years to come, unlike Mass Romantic or Twin Cinema. 

6.5/10