When the New Pornographers‘ Brill Bruisers came out this past summer, it announced itself as a party. From synth-flavoured advance singles “Brill Bruisers” and “War On The East Coast” to multicoloured neon-tube cover art and paint-slopped vinyl variants, the eight-piece group’s 6th record felt like a celebration – and as the first night of their 2015 Winter tour, I was counting on their gig at the Corona Theatre to keep the festivities rolling. I was right, of course (it’s the New Pornographers, after all). But instead of the widescreen blowout to end all blowouts, the show – supported by Dan Boeckner’s new project The Operators – felt closer to a real party: a little slow to warm up and a bit awkward in places, but full of tasty music, goofy dancing, and a lot of fun.
Formerly of Wolf Parade and the Handsome Furs, Dan Boeckner’s Operators provided the audience with a sweet electro-analog appetizer. Along with bandmates Devojka and Sam Brown, Boeckner welcomed arriving showgoers with a blend of dance-pop and icy (if muddy) vocals. As Boeckner and Devojka dug into the sexy bleep-bloops of keyboards and samplers, MVP Brown’s drums definitely made for an interesting mix by combining the frosty synth-pop with a beating heart. Still, you could feel the audience’s relief when Boeckner picked up his guitar to launch into the band’s 3rd tune, the most lively part of a short opening set. Punctuated by playful cringe-banter with the audience (“where are you from?” asks one audience member, only to have Boeckner reply: “the road”), the Operators’ performance did, at times, feel a bit weird – but like accidentally brushing fingers with someone else’s hand in a house party candy-dish, that’s not always a bad thing.
After a long-ish changeover – understandable given the band’s seven-member touring lineup – the New Pornographers declared their arrival with the title track from Brill Bruisers. Over the years, the New Pornos’ splitting of vocal duties between three very different artists (A.C. Newman, Neko Case, and Destroyer’s Dan Bejar) have led to their being referred to as a “super-group”. However, backed by a mighty band and flanked by synthesizers on either side, I was surprised to hear Newman tear through the candy-coated triumph with only the vocal accompaniment of keyboardist Kathryn Calder. As much as I like Newman’s work with the band, it actually hadn’t occurred to me until that very moment that the other two vocalists’ solo careers might make it a challenge for the whole recording band to tour together. I looked around anxiously, trying to enjoy the song’s denouement and Calder’s beautiful harmonies while picturing a whole New Pornographers show with only part of the team. I started to feel disappointment bubble up in my gut – and then Bejar appeared from out of nowhere to take lead for “Myriad Harbour”, one of the highlights from from 2007’s Challengers. Whew.
A few more tunes confirmed that Case would not be joining the band on this leg of the tour – and, although present, Bejar had the tendency to walk straight off into the shadows when not playing his songs. Still, I was glad to see that the band would not be as limited as I’d feared. In fact, armed with secret weapon Calder, the night’s set-list was able to pull from all ends of the band’s discography, with surprising attention paid to deeper power-pop treasures from 2003’s Electric Version and 2005’s Twin Cinema. This proved to be a welcome move, taking the band’s recent embrace of electronics – evident on songs like the appropriately-named “Dancehall Domine” and vocoder-intro of “Backstairs” – and giving fresh legs to older tunes. The audience approved too, bobbing to 2005’s “Use It” and “Jackie, Dressed in Cobras”. After finishing the tune, Bejar returned to his offstage lair (what does he do in there?), leaving Newman to marvel at the audience and how, despite the cold, “you just don’t give a s–t, do you?”
Although the band hinted in some spots that they were nervous, presumably still getting into the first-night groove of an expansive tour, it was hard for the audience to tell that they were rusty. After classic cut “The Laws Have Changed”, Newman turned to the band for a quick exchange before returning to the audience and laughing, “sure – we can do this one, no problem”. Though the band may have had their uncertainties, it was clear that the crowd – dancing along to a flawless rendition of the new record’s “Fantasy Fools” – never shared that doubt.
Across their 21-song set, the New Pornographers reminded the audience – and me – that the group is more than just a collective showcase for its talented solo artists. Even with Neko Case’s absence, harmony-rich standouts like “Testament to Youth in Verse” and “Silver Jenny Dollar” prove that the group’s inimitable swirl of power-pop transcends both time and ego to pay homage to a full spectrum of love for music. With a career-spanning set-list that touched even the title track of debut Mass Romantic, the band also took the time to rejoice in their own history together. After 15 years and 6 albums, that’s something worth celebrating – and with a full North American tour rolling out from Montreal, I’m happy that this party won’t be stopping any time soon.
Setlist:
Brill Bruisers
Myriad Harbour
Moves
Dancehall Domine
War on the East Coast
Use It
Jackie, Dressed in Cobras
Another Drug Deal of the Heart
The Laws Have Changed
Fantasy Fools
Testament to Youth in Verse
Adventures in Solitude
Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk
Backstairs
Silver Jenny Dollar
Sing Me Spanish Techno
Champions of Red Wine
Born With a Sound
Mass Romantic
Encore:
Ballad of a Comeback Kid
The Bleeding Heart Show
Review – Dan Corber
Photos – fotoprawn
