"We wanted to see if we could make a record that isn't referred to as 'the windows down, car-stereo-blasting summer album of the year', if only once."

That's Carl "A.C." Newman of the New Pornographers, discussing his approach to their new album Twin Cinema. Someday we will have the technology to send powerful electrical shocks to his nether regions whenever someone clicks on that link. Sadly, that day is not today.

And as a result, the new album is only okay. Carl wanted more dynamics, he says. I'm not sure I hear that exactly, but he certainly does more with tempo changes than he did on past NP releases. The thing is, the results just aren't that pleasing. It's very nice that he's got 5 time signatures in a song, and they're all numerologically derived from the kaballah. But usually they're separated by clumsy all-percussion transitions. And really, I just want a rolling singalong melody that's so impossibly fun and catchy that it makes me want to run down the street screaming.

Despite a few exceptional songs, Carl's solo album didn't wow me. That's pretty much the situation here. "The Bleeding Heart Show" is great. So is "Spanish Techno". I'm sure the rest will grow on me, but they aren't as immediately great as those on the NP's last two albums. That's Newman's prerogative though, I guess. At this point he can write his own ticket.

I just wish that he would realize that Neko Case is still the one that punches it. Newman's got a fine rock voice, but it really can't compare with Neko's almost husky, almost flat, and almost screaming timbre. It must be frustrating to slave over the songs and then have someone otherwise unconnected to the creative process (she's referred to herself as Carl's "puppet") come in and completely steal the show. I imagine it like this: Newman's bleary eyed from rewriting a bridge until 4am in order to have it ready for today's session; Neko walks in thirty minutes late, in a fur coat and a bad mood, and belts out the last 90 seconds of "The Bleeding Heart Show" without taking off her sunglasses. Then she asks for some time off and a raise.

So it's understandable that Carl wants to make sure he's the one in the spotlight. I'm sure that after the first album he saw Case getting most of the headlines and didn't like the way things seemed to be going. But although Neko gets to do more on this record than the last, I still hear a lot more Carl Newman vocals than I'm really interested in listening to. Which would be fine, except Newman seems to have decided that serious musicians don't do hooks. If he keeps systematically disassembling the things that make the New Pornographers great, I'll be pretty disappointed.

UPDATE: The ghost has a better review up here. I completely agree about "Jackie Dressed in Cobras" -- it's probably the best example of the album's tendency to stich song parts together with stuttering, awkward drum transitions. Oh, and one other thing: according to the link that starts this post, the payoff to album highlight "The Bleeding Heart Show" is apparently a recycled bit of unused melody from the Electric Version sessions. Draw what conclusions you will.