album #35

electric version (the new pornographers)

I've always loved this album, and it was my favorite New Pornographers album (out of the two I knew) that fateful summer '05, one of the crucial eras of absorbing music from the driver's seat on Austin area highways. Two main differences from Mass Romantic: (1) Electric Version strikes me as slightly sweeter, a little bit cuter, not quite as relentless; and (2) it's a little more uneven, a mix of tracks slightly weaker than Mass Romantic's weakest, and several other tracks that are supreme personal favorites.

"Electric Version," for instance, is one of my favorite opening tracks on any album, and is basically the opening track of summer '05. That roll of drums, that cascade of dark pearly synths down the stairs, the bob and surge of the chorus; a pair of Neko-driven tracks that I used to absolutely destroy my ears with, "The Laws Have Changed" and especially "All For Swinging You Around," a song that for a certain shining time felt like it would be my favorite song forever. "July Jones," from the title, to the somewhat hot, tired swoon of the beat, forever feels like late summer '05 to me; "Loose Translation" is a beauty, a terrific melody in the keys that lines up with the percussion quite compellingly. "Chump Change" is a song I feel like I'm discovering just now- it wasn't on the summer '05 mix (not enough space on the cd, one of the tracks I left behind), and I'm just now noticing the Fleetwood Mac-esque searing harmony, great stuff going on in this track. And then there's the song that, a winter or two or three after that summer '05 peak, became one of my favorite songs: "Ballad of A Comeback Kid," a true tower, a journey that climaxes with an anthemic roll of guitar hooks that I sang along with, loud, hopeful, wistful, triumphant, again and again and again.