If an album can catch me in the first verse with the genius of its lyrics then I know I am going to be in for a real treat. A.C Newman blew me away with the first few lines; "There may be ten or twelve things I could teach you/After that well you're on your own/and that wasn't the opening line/it was the tenth or the twelfth one/make of that what you will."
Genius.
It took little work to make what I wanted out of the sophomore solo album from the frontman of the New Pornographers. Nearly every song is contagious in some way, starting off with "There Are Maybe Ten or Twelve" and it's majestic use of drums and cymbals, Newman barely stops to take a breath from his lyrical poetry. He glides through a piano riff and a guitar reminiscent of some of the best classic rock on "Prophets". The future first single, "Submarines of Stockholm", is infectious but isn't at all the exception to the rule, the whole album goes from 60's garage rock to indie to folk flawlessly. There are even times when I hear touches of what made me fall in love with the Talking Heads (my personal favorite "Like a Hitman, Like a Dancer" for example). The whole time though you can tell it isn't even on his mind to lift someone elses style (if that was the case he'd be answering to too many groups to mention) - he just made an album where he created his own style that just has aspects to it that are reminiscent of some of the best aspects of other groups/genres.
"The Palace at 4 AM" could have been released thirty years ago yet still sounds fresh and original. "Elemental" is similar in that I could imagine it being played on classic rock radio today. At the same time though it's kind of too cool for it to be lumped in with that whole mess.
This is pretty much the catchiest album I've been fortunate enough to hear this year and it's not being released until next year. You can however get one of the best tracks off of the album on his website (http://www.acnewman.net/). Until then you'll just have to wait for the rest, although it's worth it for the ten or twelve songs on the album which will teach you what truly great songwriting is.
