Song, by Toad

The New Pornographers – Live, Oran Mor Glasgow, Sunday 18th November 2007

I have no wish to confess to being a vain fellow whose good will is as cheap as a bit of throwaway ego massage and an insincere compliment, but I don’t think it would be a difficult case to make. There’s little that makes a blogger feel as warm and fuzzy on the inside as a really good freebie. And as the status of that freebie gets higher and higher, our chests puff out just that little bit more, our chins are held just that little bit higher and our step gains just that little more swagger. Getting a guest list spot for the New Pornographers is easily the highest profile freebie I’ve had yet, as I’m quite a junior blogger in the grand scheme of things. Nevertheless, despite the fact that it was largely due to the fact that I, erm, have a strategically placed friend than that the record company were in any way courting my good graces, it still made me feel really rather cool.

The New Pornographers are an odd band, in terms of where they reside in my affections. They write truly excellent pop songs and they write them about topics which few bands have the courage to take on, never mind the brains to take on effectively. That said, I never quite seem to fall in love with them, despite thinking they are excellent. The music, for all the infectious hooks and sunny harmonies, seems to lack a little impact at times. Having seen them live, I can perhaps venture some reasons for this.

There’s a clipped precision to their recorded music at times, which I find makes it a little harder to engage with emotionally than I would hope. Live, this is all solved, as the gloss is gone. Not to say that they put on a scruffy or amateurish performance, quite the opposite, but the perfectly clean execution of their records is replaced by a more fluid and therefore a much more engaging live show. The live arena strips them of a little of their distinctive sound and, if anything, makes them sound like a more generic indie rock band. It worries me that in saying this I am revealing some repressed MOR craving, but I fervently hope not. This way the infectious tunes have rougher edged indie sound to latch onto and I think this more emotive delivery benefits them hugely.

They may not have had Neko Case along but on a personal level they reminded me a lot of her when I saw her earlier in the year, also at Oran Mor. They were both warm and witty, without being frivolous. Light earnestness may be a contradiction in terms, but it seems to fit quite well to a particularly Canadian manner I see a lot of. This is how Carl Newman came across, chatting lightly and cracking mildly wise from time to time, but never clowning about. The absence of Neko Case was no loss to the band as Kathryn Calder proved every bit as lovely a singer. She really brought alive songs like Challengers and Adventures in Solitude, making them chokingly lovely, and bringing a depth to the interplay with Newman that is one of the best aspects of most New Pornographers stuff.

Some of the songs from Challengers came across so well I feel I may have been a little hasty in moving on so quickly from that album. You know how you sit in a gig and think ‘Oh yay, that song.’ for almost every song, then think back a little and realise that you didn’t actually think you’d liked the album as much as all that. Well, it turns out the New Pornographers are a terrific band, and I had only ever thought of them as good before this.

New Pornographers – Sing Me Spanish Techno
New Pornographers – Challengers
New Pornographers – Adventures in Solitude