As a project, the New Pornographers have more in common with a blockbuster film franchise than a typical rock band. All of their albums follow a similar crowd-pleasing blueprint, and the group's four primary vocalists consistently fall into familiar roles: A.C. Newman is the everyman protagonist, Neko Case is the sassy dame, Dan Bejar is the lovable rogue, and Kathryn Calder is the demure ingenue. The logistics of managing so many successful careers makes each album an event along the lines of a sequel, with all the corresponding expectations, escalation of stakes, and more recently, diminishing returns. The first three New Pornographers records stand as an outstanding trilogy of brainy, hyperactive power-pop; Challengers, their fourth LP, left listeners disappointed and confused, wondering why the group had largely abandoned up-tempo thrills.
If only because it rocks slightly more on a superficial level, the New Pornographers' fifth album, Together, will inevitably be labeled a return to form. In reality, Newman and his partners are still developing a style that began with Twin Cinema cuts like "The Bleeding Heart Show" and "These Are the Fables" and came into full bloom on Challengers. Newman has shifted his focus from urgent, high-velocity rave-ups to mid-tempo tunes with an ornate, cinematic grandeur. When the band rock out on Together, as they do on "Your Hands (Together)" and "Up in the Dark", it's mostly a matter of hitting rhythmic hooks with a very strong emphasis, like ending a sentence with a dozen exclamation points.
Compared to Challengers, Together is sunnier and has fewer slow songs. However, whereas Challengers' gentle moments opened up the group's stylistic range, Together's quietest track "Valkyrie and the Roller Disco" feels like a speed bump in the middle of an album that could have used an extra jolt of energy. Newman is more successful when he merges his taste for symphonic bombast with his skill for huge choruses ("Moves", "We End Up Together") or when he holds back from unleashing the band's full force on the springy, cheerful Calder showcase "Sweet Talk, Sweet Talk".
As Newman continues to explore new ways of writing for his ensemble, Dan Bejar's contributions find him making better use of the the band's distinct resources. Whereas his songs had sometimes seemed arbitrarily wedged into New Pornographers albums for the sake of acting as Newman's foil, Bejar's material on Together is more of a piece with the record's tone and character. "Silver Jenny Dollar" and "If You Can't See My Mirrors" are lush yet breezy, and provide a welcome contrast with Newman's more overwrought arrangements. "Daughters of Sorrow" takes full advantage of the band's elaborate harmonies for a majestic vocal crescendo. All three songs contrast Bejar's voice with that of Neko Case, wisely exploiting a chemistry that had not yet been fully explored.
Case, despite taking the spotlight on the stand-out tracks "Crash Years" and "My Shepherd" and being present through most of the songs, is mostly under-utilized here. Whereas her huge, brassy voice had been deployed as the vocal equivalent of a fuzz pedal on classics like "The Laws Have Changed" and "Letter From an Occupant", she has since been relegated to mid-tempo numbers and ballads. She carries those songs well, but it's not a far cry from what she does on her solo albums, and it tosses out the novelty of placing her alt-country powerhouse voice in the context of hard-charging rock songs. Newman has done better in servicing Calder, whose delicate, princessy tone is well suited to his smaller, less assertive compositions.
Aside from "Valkyrie", Together is a solid collection of well-crafted songs. However, in spite of the quality, the album isn't entirely satisfying. To some extent, this is simply a case of a band capable of greatness merely turning in a pretty good record. The real problem is more subtle. Though Newman's songs have become more melodramatic and sentimental in recent years, his lyrics have remained rather cryptic. It's clear that some of the songs are addressing something intense and personal, but he keeps the listener at arm's length, which in turn discourages identification and emotional connection. Newman's cerebral wordplay and mythic allusions worked well in zippy power-pop songs, but the grand gestures of his newer material require more heart and less brain. Bejar, who is no less arty and obscure in his lyrics, can pull off his more pretentious moves with raw charisma and self-aware wit, but Newman can't help but come across as a sincere straight-arrow type. He puts so much effort into subverting that quality in his voice, but at this point in his career, it's something he ought to consider embracing.
