The New Pornographers – Challengers (2007)

Canadian indie rock band The New Pornographers is one of the greatest supergroups ever existed. Their albums tend to be actually slightly better than any of the members' own projects. Especially this fourth album of theirs is an amazing piece of music. The early albums had a more punk attitude and therefore some people prefer those albums, but personally, this album is the hight of their career. Challengers has a selection of excellent melodic power pop songs where the compositions are carefully crafted. All of the instrumentation and backing vocals are also close to perfection. If I have to say something negative about the album, it's probably that it has one of the worst album covers of all times. Although, it is in fact so ugly that it's actually kind of cool in a similar way as Beck's Midnite Vultures. The covers don't make these masterpieces any less worthy.



The New Pornographers has lots of musicians that are known for their other projects. The most well-known are probably Neko Case, whose solo career has been quite a successful and interesting one. There's also Kathryn Calder from Immaculate Machine and various members from Destroyer. This amazing staff of the band works brilliantly together. The vocal harmonies are just amazing and The New Pornographers have their distinctive sound in all of the songs no matter who is singing the lead. That's one of the things I really like about this band, different people singing lead vocals in different songs.

The album starts with the absolutely fantastic song My Rights Versus Yours, which rises from Beach Boys style baroque pop to epic indie rock with some of the greatest backing vocals in the last decades. All the Old Showstoppers is a bit more straightforward indie rock song, but there's something about the epic string arrangements, progressive rhythms and incredibly innovative backing vocals that make this a very special song as well. The title-track Challengers is a bit slower. Neko Case's vocals sound really great in the song and I really like the ukulele sounds in the background. Myriad Harbour sounds like early Destroyer with quite epic backing vocals. I really like the chorus in this one. All Things That Go to Make Heaven and Earth is most like the early albums of The New Pornographers. The tempo is a lot faster than in other songs and there's a great party feel to it. The tightness of the riffs almost resembles some hard rock or heavy metal songs even if the sounds are very light. Failsafe has some excellent psychedelia elements with buzzing guitars and Paul McCartney-style bass lines. Entering White Cecilia sounds a bit like a Belle & Sebastian song with the vocalist from Destroyer. Go Places sounds like an indie rock sea shanty. These kinds of songs are really normal in Immaculate Machine's albums. Mutiny, I Promise You is almost like a pop punk song with excellent tight guitar riffs. Adventures in Solitude starts off as a delicate and quiet song but what makes it absolutely beautiful is the rising intensity towards the end. The last song The Spirit of Giving is just like most Destroyer songs. This is probably the only song where the distinctive sound of The New Pornographers doesn't really come up.

The music video for the title-track Challengers is a very nice visually. It starts all black and white, but gradually you start seeing more and more colours. The video shows delicate moments between a couple that seems to be fairly new. It all ends with a long and intimate kiss. There are also some moments of just the band playing or vocalists singing their harmonies. Some paint has also been used in the video. It's cool to see fresh paint covering different objects.

I saw The New Pornographers finally live last year. I thought it would've maybe been too late to see them considering my favourite album had already came out ten years earlier, but the band played lost of their old hit songs and the gig was actually really good. I'm glad to tick that box off my list.

For people who appreciate good melodies and upbeat indie pop rock, you can hardly go any better than The New Pornographers. Especially Challengers is a masterpiece that should be found in any indie fan's collection.

Listen to the album on Spotify.