THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS
@ DANFORTH MUSIC HALL, TORONTO
MAY 12, 2023
Along with the feeling of excitement that naturally presents itself upon seeing The New Pornographers live, it’s hard not to go in with any expectations. During their 2021 visit to Toronto, they played two nights: the first going through the entire track list of Mass Romantic, and the second the entirety of Twin Cinema. At the Twin Cinema show, bandleader A.C. Newman quipped that it felt weird to play all of their biggest hits one after the other. They played them through, took a 10-minute break, and then played a bunch more songs, for a three-hour explosion of energy typical of the band’s style for the past two decades.
To the present: The New Pornographers’ recently released album, Continue As A Guest, has less of a power-pop feel; it is more experimental and stripped-down. It features Neko Case as a lead vocalist alongside Newman, and a band that includes a saxophone player and synths. “It’s good to be back. Feels like we were just here, but it wasn’t,” Newman says to the Danforth Music Hall crowd — leave it to him to succinctly sum up years of changes through an offhand wry comment — and we are all anticipating the changes we are about to experience.
Case and Newman are leading the band up at the front of the stage, along with Kathryn Calder on keys, and the backing band includes Adam Schatz on saxophone and synth, Todd Fancey on guitar, John Collins on bass, and Joe Seiders on drums. The show opens with “Marie And The Undersea” from the new album, which begins with playful yet creepy synth effects, and then brings in the saxophone and the rest of the band. Case wails “You wake up/Your nose still raw and still out of place,” and her voice is somehow as strong as ever. This is a good track to kick off the night; it introduces the reflective, experimental feel of the new songs while maintaining The New Pornographers’ status as an indie-pop band.
PURCHASE CONTINUE AS A GUEST
They lead into “Use It,” which everyone knows well from either Twin Cinema or George Stroumboulopoulos’ The Hour, and the crowd sings enthusiastically along with the chorus. They belt out the beginning “Bo Ba, Ba-Ba-Ba Bo” lyrics of the upbeat “Brill Bruisers,” and follow that with “Falling Down The Stairs Of Your Smile,” an atmospheric pop song with a propelling bass line that causes a lot of audience head-bopping. Next is the first single off Continue As A Guest, the hook-heavy Really Really Light.
The New Pornographers know how to keep a crowd’s attention. By this point, I realize I will never at any point in the show know what they’ll play next. They end up performing hits from all different albums while interspersing the new material. “The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism” and “The Jessica Numbers” get the crowd dancing, while more atmospheric tracks like “Pontius Pilate’s Home Movies”, which Newman has called a stream of consciousness story about the disease of online culture, show off more of the new album mood. It’s a treat seeing Newman and Case sing together throughout the show.
The occasional stage banter is fun. After performing “Angelcover”, Newman jokes that he “heard a sports thing has happened,” referring to the Leafs playoff game that is occurring, and the crowd laughs (nervously). He later introduces “Testament To Youth In Verse,” joking that it is the “mid-set closer.” The crowd laughs again, and an audience member expresses appreciation at knowing whereabouts in the show we are (the band knows their audience). Case occasionally speaks to the crowd as well, but unfortunately it’s hard to hear what she is saying.
The show really highlights how much these musicians work together to produce a cohesive sound, even when the band incarnations change, the times change, and the music changes. That said, they end the set and encore with bangin’ versions of “Mass Romantic” and “The Bleeding Heart Show” — some things should never change.
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Photo Credits: Ebru Yildiz | Main Photo Composite Credit: Nicole White
SPILL ALBUM REVIEW: THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS – MASS ROMANTIC (REISSUE)
