The new pornographers give balladry a shot and for the most part it works great. The title track is GORGEOUS. Adventures of solitude is EXTRAGORGEOUS. But then they also bring the bangers. We got “All the Things That go to Make Heaven and Earth”. We got “Mutiny, I promise you.” We got “All the Old Showstoppers”. You know, I was gonna give this an 80, but then I realized that the only real misses are entering white Cecilia and fugue state. And even then ... read more

Obviously I adore the first half (twin cinema through sing me Spanish techno) but I also love the much deep-cuttier second half. Falling through your clothes, star bodies, and stacked crooked are all most excellent.

Not one miss on this sucker. Every song hits. Each and every song hits.

When I was in elementary school I had a music teacher who was probably the first person, besides my parents, to inspire in me a deep sense of love and appreciation for music as a whole. She taught us to sing a lot of songs, including a few songs she wrote. One such song she wrote was called “season of light,” meant to be a sort of catch-all winter holiday song about Christmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa. Its melody, for whatever reason, is extremely similar to the “oooh-oooh” ... read more