The music made by A.C. Newman and his cadre of notable friends — including beloved songstress Neko Case and Destroyer's Dan Bejar — under the New Pornographers moniker has always been an intriguing mix of the stately and the quirky. Familiar elements of chamber pop, '60s girl-group hits and even psychedelia and prog-rock are examined, deconstructed and reconstituted into the layered, iconoclastic yet innately compelling style that is the Pornographers' alone. Love them or hate them, when these particular folks get together, the resulting tunes sound like nothing and no one else.
The group's fifth full-length, Together, is no exception, though it is a bit heavier on Summer of Love influences, and a bit lighter on the sense of fun that subtly lifted earlier efforts like Mass Romantic and Electric Version.
This article appears in Apr 28 – May 4, 2010.