Continue as a Guest dials back the New Pornographers’ signature hooks in favor of less-gratifying subtlety.
For over two decades, the New Pornographers have differentiated themselves from other indie rock acts by infusing as much pep into their music as possible. On their ninth album Continue as a Guest, the band answers the question, “what would happen if we didn’t do that?”
Continue as a Guest dials back the New Pornographers’ signature hooks without completely discarding their bedrock indie pop elements. The vocal trio of A.C. Newman, Neko Case, and Kathryn Calder is still there, alongside a mix of upbeat guitars and synthesizers, but the spark is not.
In the past, the New Pornographers created immediately recognizable, simple melodies with just a few notes. Think of the distinctive guitar riffs that open “Moves” from their 2010 album Together or the synthesizer line of the single “High Ticket Attractions” from 2017’s Whiteout Conditions. Instrumental melodies like these are barely present on Continue as a Guest, where guitars take on a more droning quality and synthesizers provide a mostly ambient effect. If you were to try and hum the instrumental parts of “Cat and Mouse with the Light” or the closing “Wish Automatic Suite,” you’d probably be met with a blank stare of nonrecognition. This minimalist approach occasionally means the vocals receive all the attention, which might make you realize how strange the New Pornographers’ lyrics can get. If “Pontius Pilate’s Home Movies” seems like a peculiar track title, wait until Case sings its chorus of “now you’re clearing the room just like Pontius Pilate when he showed all his home movies to all of his friends, yelling ‘Pilate, too soon!” It’s nonsensical, but at least it provides an entertaining image.
Instead, he greatest redeeming quality of Continue as a Guest is how it utilizes its outside talent. This is the first New Pornographers album to feature a couple of co-writers on its song credits, with familiar names for indie rock fans. Sadie Dupuis of Speedy Ortiz co-wrote the straightforward synthpop track “Firework in the Falling Snow.” Additionally, none other than former New Pornographers member and current Destroyer singer Dan Bejar co-wrote the opening track “Really Really Light.” This song is actually an outtake from the band’s 2014 album Brill Bruisers, and its chorus of “my heart just like a feather, really really light” is appropriate for a carefree tone that harkens back to the simpler times of nine years ago. However, the most prominent musical guest is saxophonist Zach Djanikian, whose presence throughout the album turns out to be its most distinguishing aspect. He single-handedly carries the title track’s instrumentation, and his appearances on “Bottle Episodes” (where he gives a nice sax reprisal of the chorus) and “Marie and the Undersea” saves these tracks from being completely overlooked. Much like how jazz elements made Kaputt a musical turning point for Destroyer, I’d welcome more of Djanikian’s saxophone on any future New Pornographers releases.
Continue as a Guest is the type of album where other reviewers have noted things like “it takes several plays for these song’s delights to fully reveal themself,” or emphasizing a subtlety that “begs for repeated listens.” In other words, it definitely doesn’t jump out at you as much as their past albums, where bright and shimmering sonic palettes provided instant gratification. That said, I have listened to the album several times now, and it’s still hard for me to see its subtlety as an asset. Plus, “you just have to listen to it more to like it” is already a tough sell. The songs themselves are fine, and bringing aboard talented new guests is an intriguing new direction for the band, but the New Pornographers have definitely hit higher notes before.
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