The New Pornographers at the Roxy, 10/23

The New Pornographers’ songs are almost too catchy. This is not to diminish their musical brilliance; rather, it is testament to it. But seriously, every time I’ve been listening to them it takes an active effort to dislodge the songs from my head. Granted, having one of these power pop confections sparkling through your cerebrum is no sad fate, but I’m always afraid that one day (though it hasn’t happened yet) I’ll get tired of the thing or its magic will stop working on me. Of course, the best way to dislodge an NPs song from your head is to think of another NPs song. Any will do. It’s that great.

There are exactly eight New Pornographers, all of which were on stage Tuesday night. All of them have other musical projects, whether lesser known bands or solo careers, btu this group has really thrown them all into the indie limelight. The leader is Carl Newman, a burly blond bearded man who looks like he could be your “cool” uncle. And if Carl is the brains behind the band, Neko Case is the soul. She sings on almost every song, sometimes taking the lead part and other times backing up for Carl. Neko also has made a name for herself as a solo artist, and apparently is often doing her solo stuff while the Nps are touring, leaving keyboardist Kathryn Calder has to take over her vocal duties. Luckily, tonight we got the full octet on the stage, and witnessed the beauty of the combined vocals of Neko and Kathryn against Carl. The fourth Pornographer who sometimes sings is Dan Bejar, whose first priority is his band Destroyer and who has a tendency to leave and hang around offstage between “his” songs. Bassist John Collins is also a member of Destroyer. Drummer Kurt Dahle, guitarist Todd Fancy, and (I kid you not) synthesizer/video director Blain Thurier round out the group.

The Roxy is an 18-plus venue, so the kids stayed home, which was kind of nice. Despite that, it was a young crowd compared to Tori, and it seemed like even more men were there than women. I was amused by the number of people wearing glasses, of the thick-black-rimmed variety and otherwise. Most amusing to me was the fact that I ran into Professor Jason Ur, currently on leave at Harvard, in the line. The NPs are his favorite band. Who knew? It's also a pretty small venue, and the show was sold out. Just by being on the floor, which is the only place to be unless you want to sit at the bar and drink, you're up pretty close.

Emma Pollock and her band opened with a nice set of guitar-driven ballads, occasionally channeling Joni Mitchell with songs like “Limbs.” It was good enough that I was inspired to go to her MySpace to find out the name of that song.

When the NPs came on, their name lit up behind them in old-fashioned lights. They kicked things with the pounding “All of the Things that Go to Make Heaven and Earth,” which, like about half the songs, came from the Challengers album, released just last month. They then and launched directly into the hit “Use It,” which the crowd just ate up. For the next two hours they played most of the new album interspersed with songs from their last three records, especially 2005’s Twin Cinema, the record which got me hooked on the band. The performances and songs were so consistently good that they blended together emotionally, for me, into one euphoric squee-fest. (OMG they’re playing my favorite song! Oh wait, No, THIS is my favorite song! OMG!) I got particularly excited over “The Laws Have Changed,” which is one of my top dance-like-crazy-in-my-room songs; “Challengers,” the mellow, folksy title track that had everyone entranced; and “Go Places,” my favorite song from the new album. One of Neko’s greatest vocal tracks, “Go Places” combines a deceptively simple melody with triumphant lyrics, and it played a large part of pulling me out of my depression last week. And it was oh so good live. The crowd also got really into “Twin Cinema” and the irresistible “Sing Me Spanish Techno,” a poppy classic that got even the most impassive hipsters to move a little on the floor. Both the latter two songs were saved until late in the set, leaving me worrying that they might not get played at all. It was one of those nights when every new set of opening chords brought a delighted smile of recognition.

Here's the full setlist (maybe a little out of order):

All of the Things that Go to Make Heaven and Earth
Use It
Myriad Harbor
Jackie, Dressed in Cobras
Spirit of Giving
All the old Showstoppers
The Electric Version
Challengers
Mass Romantic
My Rights Versus Yours
The Laws Have Changed
Unguided
Twin Cinema
Adventures in Solitude
Testament to Youth in Verse
Sing Me Spanish Techno
Go Places
The Bleeding Heart Show

Encore:
These are the Fables
The Slow Descent Into Alcoholism

The band didn’t chat too much between songs, though Carl threw a few cute lines of gratitude out at the crowd. With so many players on stage, it never felt crowded, but some of the quieter members tended to blend into the background behind the front lines of Neko, Carl, and Kathryn. Whenever Dan showed up for one of his songs, all eyes were on him. He exuded apathetic cool, muttering Velvet Underground-esque vocals between swigs of beer. I am not sure how a huge and diverse group like this functions in real life, but on stage it worked like a bright shiny machine.

The last song before the encore was one of my favorites, “The Bleeding Heart Show.” With its buildup from percolating verses to a rolling boil of “hey-las,” it was a perfect climax. It’s one of those songs that just grows and grows until you’re swamped in harmonic bliss. And everyone knew it was the end, and we all danced.

The two-song encore was great, but nothing compared to that finale. It was a thoroughly solid show and the best Tuesday night I’ve had in ages. I’m pretty sure the New Pornographers make the best happy music around these days. Their lyrics may be obtuse and ironic, but the songcraft is the stuff of joy. Take that, hipsters.