French "Alexandria" postage stamp designed by Luc-Olivier Merson, 1927
The first half of 2010 is shaping up pretty nicely, with new releases from many of my favorite bands. Spoon and the Magnetic Fields have new ones out this month, February will bring a new Robert Pollard LP my way, Frightened Rabbit's much-anticipated The Winter of Mixed Drinks comes out in March, and there are rumors of a firm May release date for the new National record. For me, though, the best news came yesterday, when the New Pornographers announced the release of their new album, Together, on May 4th. My birthday! Announcements like this are more special when the band is one that could cease to exist at any moment - photographic evidence shows that Dan Bejar and Neko Case were definitely involved in the recording of the new record!
As much as I liked the sophisticated Fleetwood-Macesque pop of the last New Pornographers record, which was actually displayed best on that album's b-sides like "Silent Systems" and "Fortune", I hope they go a different direction on this one. Carl Newman's solo album from last year refined that songwriting approach and added some much-needed weirdness on songs like "Submarines of Stockholm", but I get the feeling that he may be done exploring that particular avenue. And Bejar, Case, and the others are also important contributors, and I'm sure they have new things to share. I'm excited to see what the New Pornographers come up with this time around.
"Silent Systems" by the New Pornographers
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