The New Pornographers - Whiteout Conditions

Whiteout Conditions, the seventh full-length album from The New Pornographers, and the first on their own Collected Works label, is likely to expand their devoted following. A.C. Newman and Neko Case have done well as solo artists, but there’s a certain magic in the way these eight Vancouver-based musicians create impossibly catchy and eccentric music. Having five members who can sing results in terrific harmonies and adventurous vocal arrangements.

As in the past, The New Pornographers’ lyrics have a logic all their own. The haunting “We’ve Been Here Before” and “Second Sleep,” as well as the pulsating “Avalanche Alley” could have sprung from the pages of a fantasy novel. “High Ticket Attractions,” which bears a resemblance to The Dandy Warhols’ “Bohemian Like You,” sports numerous quick and clever rhymes that reference everything from the Magna Carta to the ancient Mayans.

The lilting yet ominous “This Is The World Of The Theatre” mixes guitars and keyboards, while the title track and the futuristic “Clockwise” explore a more aggressive 1980s alternative rock. The tribal beat and male-female vocal dynamic on “Darling Shade” evokes The B-52’s at their best. “Play Money,” which uses an infectious arrangement and biting lyrics to lampoon a cash-hungry music industry, might explain why The New Pornographers have decided to go their own way.