The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers came together in Vancouver as a collective, a Canadian supergroup of songwriters on loan from other projects, and they made power pop sound like the most thrilling thing in the world again. A.C. Newman sings and plays guitar, Neko Case brings a voice that can knock the paint off the walls, Dan Bejar was part of the crew for years, and John Collins on bass, Blaine Thurier, Todd Fancey on guitar and Kurt Dahle filled out the ranks. Kathryn Calder later joined on keys and backing vocals.

The trick is the pile-up: multiple singers, multiple writers, choruses stacked on choruses, all of it wound tight and played at a sprint. The debut, Mass Romantic, landed in 2000 and has since been hailed as one of the great power pop albums; Electric Version followed in 2003. Twin Cinema, in 2005, is a sugar rush with brains, from the rattle of "Use It" to the slow-building glory of "The Bleeding Heart Show" and the giddy "Sing Me Spanish Techno".

They have kept at it, 10 studio albums and counting, through Together, Brill Bruisers, Whiteout Conditions, In the Morse Code of Brake Lights and Continue as a Guest in 2023, with Joe Seiders taking over the drums along the way.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz and Wikipedia.